IFP: Food for Thought

What is your passion?

As a high school student who has yet to find their path, I find this question extremely intimidating.

This week’s IFP session has definitely help me look at myself from a different perspective and sparked questions about myself. It has also allowed me to work towards the second learning outcome: an experience that will be a challenge to you and where you will learn a new skill. I would be lying if I said public speaking with minimal to no preparation is my forte. But I can definitely say that the Soap Box activity has allowed me to move a step closer to being able to confidently speak in front of an audience.

Calling the experience nerve-racking would be an understatement. The people who went up before me were discussing about pressing and serious issues such as racism, sexism, and environmental issues. My topic of food and gratitude towards it felt rather out of place. I could feel the stress and tension around me. With support from the people around me, I took the risk and talked about a topic that can bring joy to most, if not everyone, in hope to lighten the mood. I added personal anecdotes to be more engaging to the audience, like the sudden flair and boost of energy in my writing when I start talking about food. It felt good to have people agreeing with your points or laughing with you. The positive feedback helped me talk more from the heart, rather than from my badly planned script. It felt good to alleviate the stress from people’s minds and to also talk about something I love.

Here is a summary of my speech:

As students, we often feel burdened with academics, CAS, activities, and even the thought of our life beyond high school. Our lived go by so fast in this bustling city, but we cannot forget about things in life we often overlook. Yes – from the title with the intended pun – you could have guess that this post is going to be about food! I love food, everyone loves food, some may even call it a passion. As growing teenagers. we get hungry quite often; even by block three our stomachs are already grumbling for food ignoring the full breakfast and possibly a snack during break that we had earlier in the day. We often think we’re suffering, on the verge of death from hunger even, despite knowing that we can simply buy lunch from the canteen in an hours time. As a rather privileged community, we find it difficult to imagine the what it must be like to live in poverty, to not have the reassurance or the constant access to food. There are children our age out there in the world who would do anything for the three meals we get daily. So just remind yourself to be grateful of what we have, even the food on our plates.

Although food is probably not the most relevant passion for peace building, I feel that passion of any kind is important for accomplishing anything. It is the drive that helps us move forward towards a set goal, towards a change we want to see. Through IFP, I hope to ignite the burning passion within me.

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