Donaldson announces “Score One for Solutions” contest winner
Mar. 16, 2016 (SMITHERS, BC) – A winner has been selected by a panel of community judges in the Stikine MLA’s annual contest for youth. Nathan Steenhof, a grade 10 student at Bulkley Valley Christian School, wrote the winning essay for the “Score One for Solutions” contest that Doug Donaldson and a team of sponsors offered to young people in his riding.
“This year’s theme differed from our past contests, in that rather than asking teens to write about a specific issue they face, we wanted them chose the issue themselves and tell us about solutions,” said Donaldson. “Young people can learn a lot from each other about how to deal with difficult life and school situations. That is why we chose this theme for the annual contest we run from our Stikine MLA offices, teaming up with Dan Hamhuis of the Vancouver Canucks each year.”
Nathan and his dad will fly to Vancouver courtesy of Central Mountain Air and attend the March 19 Canucks game courtesy of Dan Hamhuis. The Gitxsan Government Commission are paying for accommodation, the Hazelton Public Library and the RCMP provided the judging of all the entries, and the Interior News and Moose FM donated advertising.
In his essay that impressed the judges, Nathan writes: “Social media has become so much a part of our everyday lives we don’t even notice how much time we spend on it anymore. Our school is doing something called Media Free week, so from Monday morning to Friday evening we are not allowed to use media. Doing this has made me realize how dependent we are on media. I thought this week would be really boring and I wouldn’t be able to handle not using media. However it’s been kind of refreshing, not having media to keep me occupied has forced me to do other things with my spare time. Like reading a book or playing games with my siblings. Everyone thinks that not being able to use their phones for a week would be terrible, however the opposite is true….Imagine walking into a coffee shop and looking around, instead of a sad and depressing sight greeting you the shop is filled with laughter and chatter. Someone in line offers you a friendly handshake and a warm smile instead of being too immersed in their “social” media accounts to even notice your presence. “
Donaldson will highlight the winning entry in the legislature in Victoria today and Nathan’s full essay can be found here.