As we went through the ICE year, there were many different experiences from the program that made me learn a bit more about myself as a person, student and a Canadian. The different experiences throughout the year varied from going winter camping to learning about the Canadian involvement in WWI and WWII. Reflecting back, the unique ICE program really helped me grow a lot.

Through the ICE year, I have developed better time and workload management skills as a student. Before I thought I was good at these skills, yet, soon I realized that I was indeed in need to ameliorate. For instance, before either the winter or march break, there were always lots of assignments due for different subjects. Then, I had lots of work being put on one-day instead of splitting the workload into many different days. By understanding my needs for improving my time management skills, this also changed my character to become more reflective. From the unacceptable experience of rushing to do work overnight instead of splitting workloads, I started thinking more about how to improve my time and workload management skills. Therefore, overall, I gained better workload and time management skills as a student and also became more reflective.

Over the year, I also gained a better understanding of the responsibilities Canadians should have. Especially in Civics this year, we have focused some of our attention on polling and some federal election speeches that were made in public. Additionally, in order to be more politically aware, we also did activities that helped determine where each of us is on the political spectrum. From all of these, I started to pay more attention to politics in our country and it is, for certain, every Canadian’s responsibility to be politically informed. With Civics, this made me more responsible especially helped me gain a sense of responsibility as a part of society.

One of the most memorable experiences for me was going winter camping. Before going, I detested the fact that I have to go winter camping because the only descriptions that were left for me from spring camping last year was “muddy”, “wet”, and “freezing to death”. From these experiences of spring camping, I thought winter camping would just be worse. Yet, after actually having the perseverance to try going camping again, I actually thought winter camping was so fun because I got to do so many more outdoor activities with my peers. From winter camping, it also taught me a relevant lesson of being more confident and more willing to try new things. From this, it also caused an accretion for me as a person changing from being more conservative to more willing to try new things.

In conclusion, the ICE program at our school has been a unique program that helped me grow both in and outside of school. From this program, I was able to have a better understanding of myself from different layers either being a student, a person or a Canadian. Throughout the year, there were many different times when things were somewhat challenging like going winter camping yet it could be admitted that the ICE year overall is very enjoyable. This year has been full of challenges and opportunities for me to grow. Overall, ICE has been a program that I am definitely going to miss especially because of the unique experience it provides.

Here's a mini podcast I created about COVID-19 and Traveling. It specifically focuses on how travel companies such as Air Canada and Royal Caribbean demonstrated their corporate character through helping communities during the COVID-19 crisis