I understand them. It starts with looking at the nutrition labels, then looking at the fat on nutrition labels, and so on. It starts from just cutting out desert, then sugar, then meat, then lunch then you’ll be living on an all vegetable diet. You can’t sleep, you can’t wake up, you can do what you used to love, and the overwhelming guilt murders you inside. You start to become obsessed with the feeling of being hungry; you become obsessed with what you consume.

I was this way once upon a time, and I ate less than 200 calories a day. I am not going to get into stats and numbers, because sure, there’s million of people have it worse than you, but that doesn’t make your situation any less. Cancer, paralytic, MS and broken bones are a absolutely  horrible and tear jerking condition, but as my role model, Shane Koyczan, said:

“so broken heart strings bled the blues
as we tried to empty ourselves
so we would feel nothing
don’t tell me that hurts less than a broken bone
that an ingrown life
is something surgeons can cut away
that there’s no way for it to metastasize

it does”

Eating disorders, Depression, Mental illness, and self harm are just a few of the most common disorders in youth.  A saddening amount do not understand the seriousness of these conditions. Eating disorders are not a fashion trend, Depression is not breaking up with your boyfriend of two weeks, self harm is not for attention and mental illness does not mean your psychotic.  They are apart of the fairytale I like to call life. Once upon a time I was the little girl with blue lips from a popsicle, swinging on the swings with my grandma, kissing and hugging everyone I see because I believed no one could do me harm.  I remember my dad saying to me last year “It was when you were 10 was when you changed, I thought you didn’t like me.” and then was when I encountered my first cut upon my wrist.  That made me sob because these things don’t just affect you, they affect everyone around you. So no, it is not to be taken lightly, That it is just something you can get over. That depression can we cured by any of the contents in a first aid-kit. So don’t tell me words will never hurt me, because of course they did.  It is okay to hurt. Please don’t ever feel guilty for hurting. These things happen for a reason, and there is a reason why you are here today. My reason to let youth know they are not, nay, never alone. A lot of people ask me if I could change anything about my past, what would it be? and my answer is always “Nothing, nothing at all.”

Sincerely,

✰ Dani Lafleur ✰

When I was a wee lass, my older brother played baseball as I played T-ball in the Dunbar Little League.  I often reminisce over the days of candy bags and pink batting helmets, probably about ten years ago of course.  Only less than a month ago I was asked if I would like to sing the national anthem and “Take me out the the ball game” at the opening day ceremony. Now I was honoured to be given this chance, and I wont deny the fact that I belt out some Elton John in the shower, but other than that Ive never sung in front of anyone before.

So last weekend on the 13th of April was the day of the opening ceremony, and I had so much fun.  I cheered on the little lads as they stared in awe at my crown, wearing their tiny jerseys with so much pride. The excitement was inevitable, and it was so special to have such a close knit community come together and eat hotdogs and watch baseball!   I sang the national anthem (and completely killed it) then was welcomed back and sang take me out to the ball game, as probably every person there sang along. 

The biggest wave of nostalgia hit me while sitting in the  bleachers, and once the game started there was a line of blushing twelve year old boys who were just trying to get one word to me. My face ached from the lack of control of my facial muscles~ I couldn’t stopped smiling. I was surprised how many people actually cared about what I had to say,  and how much they just wanted to donate, and support and just ask a million questions about my everyday life. Though, I think my overall favourite one was “Are you a princess?”

What a great first appearance it was, I feel so honoured to have this title, because I am not just an average girl. I have something important to say, and I am just so proud to share it with my community.

PEACE ON THE STREETS, SUNCHIP.

✰Dani LaFleur✰

You know, ever since I was fetus in my Mommy’s tummy, I knew I had to do something fantastic with my life. At that point I didn’t know what I was set out to do, but I knew I’d spend my life looking. I have always had troubles with friends in my younger grades, but it wasn’t until grade eight when my life took a turn… for the worst? Maybe at the time, but as of now I would not change a thing. I had extremely low self esteem in grade seven to eight, and on top of that I was being severely cyber bullied. I was afraid to open Facebook, my phone, I was afraid to leave my house but most of all I was terrified to tell my mom. I thought that this wasn’t a big deal, that it was my fault and this is not the worst that has happened.
When my parents found out, the school was contacted immediately. After the lack of respect I had gotten from the school, trusted adults and police, I knew that is the injustice of this situation was wrong. I had left the school and continued in online school. Over that time I learned a ton about myself, and learned to love everything about me. I refused to be passive while the same events occur, and attempted to make a stand. Unfortunately, people just don’t listen to a 14 year old girl who claims to have the ambition of Mary Tyler Moore. So that is why I wanted to become Miss Teen Vancouver – World, to gain a voice and to speak for the millions of girls who don’t. My platform is allow girls to have a realistic and positive body image. My goal is go to school environments and speak to girls and let them know their not alone. The events that I see degrading women day to day are disgusting, and youth don’t need to grow up in world like that. I am ambitious, self driven, and confident, but I can’t stop this madness on my own. I need support, so thank you for taking the time to read my blog and stay tuned for upcoming events!
PEACE ON THE STREETS, SUNCHIP.
Sincerely, ✰ Dani Lafleur ✰

On the evening of Sunday July 15^th, all the girls and I were assembled for a mentors night. We had four amazing women, all very different come to speak to us about empowerment, confidence, strength, self-esteem and much more. All these women were not only talented, intelligent and successful but each woman was also beautiful.

Our first speaker was Melanie Chong. She had been

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an athlete most of her life and at 17 years old was chosen to be Canadian Ford Model. One of Melanie’s messages was to not keep yourself in one category, instead explore and accept opportunities of all sorts because you never know what will come of it. She is a mom of two and along the way decided she didn’t want to and couldn’t model forever. She decided to evolve herself from model to stylist, to going back to school, to becoming a chemist which has lead her to where she is now. The successful owner and founder of Soya Boutique, which is an all natural skin care line made with organic products. Her career journey is the prime example of another main point she addressed; we always have something to learn.

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The second speaker we had was Katrina Hadden, a health and wellness specialist. She is a size twelve model who like most models has struggled with an eating disorder. Being an in-between size was a struggle to fit into the thin or plus-size categories of the modelling world. Katrina became a fitness trainer and overcame her disorder; she also pursued her dream of modelling by moving to Toronto. She approached Ben Berry about creating an in-between category for models and he loved it! Katrina’s main message was to use your energy, personality and confidence to reach your goals and embrace your uniqueness. Even though she shared she was very shy growing up, standing in front of us was a confident, beautiful woman with a shinning personality. She was even sweet enough to right us each a personalized card. I would love to read her best-selling book “Making it in High Heels” that specializes in stress management, personal development and balancing work and life.

Olympic athlete, Rhythmic Gymnast Alexandra Orlando was our third speaker.

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She spoke with us about our next few years and how they’re really when you discover who you want to be, how strong you are and what it takes to push through hard times. Alexandra described her teen years as being the toughest time in her life so far, along the way she discovered her passion for rhythmic was stronger than her passion to win or be perfect. One of her messages was that everyone has problems and tough times, even Olympians. Her struggles, feelings and stories are in her books “In Pursuit of Victory” and “Breaking through my Limits”. I think the main message of Alexandra’s speech was to try what you want, and to try and not be scared because we don’t have life figured out and we need to make mistakes to learn.

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The final speaker of the night was Dr. Natalie Archer, a Toronto dentist who began her career in 2001. She highlighted the importance of having an education and as a woman finding the balance between having a career and having children. Natalie is passionate about giving back having been a hospital dentist and having been involved in Runnymede and Senior Dental Care. Her key to success is advance planning, hard work and luck (something we all need).

All four women were amazing, inspiriting speakers. It was so lovely of all of them to come get to know all of us girls and share the intimate parts of their lives, mistakes and all to help us have a better chance of success in whatever we choose to do in the future. In my opinion the mentor night was a huge success and it was a great way to set all our attitudes into positive gear to get ready for the long pageant week ahead, that in it would have some small obstacles. I would like to thank all the ladies so much for coming out and introducing themselves to each of us.

Till next time

-Nadia Afshar

I’m going to be honest and say that my dream TV show is quite simple, partly because i’ve always thought about this in the back of my mind and partly because i feel like there are already so many good shows on TV or rather entertainning shows. With that said my dream TV show would have to be a reality series in my world of cheerleading.

Yes i’m well aware there are lots of shows already about cheerleading (because i’ve watched them all ) but I find that pretty much all of them are centered around the drama the parents bring to the table or showing how crazy a coach is. What I would much rather watch is the interaction of the athletes together. My team for example is completely crazy, and I don’t exclude myself from that statement. Basically what I mean by that is we’re all weird in our own ways, and then you put us all together and we’re a whole basket of weird!

Eventhough we practice hard theres never a moment when one of us misses a moment of humor, we all take full advantage of that to liven practices up! And when we have theme days it’s even more fun and gives us the opportunity to show our sillyness on the outside. So my idea of a dream TV show would be to highlight the athletes and how they work together, not just on my team but I would love to go to different gyms to see the different styles of coaching and how that affects the athletes and their dynamics.

I would be the host visiting all different cheer gyms around Canada, getting natural unrehersed phootage of the atheltes and coaches in practice, and at competitions. The only time I wouldn’t be hosting would be in the episode about my team, since I am the captain I would like to take part in the group like I usually would so everythings as natural as possible. It would be a great way to encourage kids to stay active which is very important in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and since my platform is childhood obesity it fits well.

CHEERful

My Sponsors would be Bioré as the age group we’d be filming would be teenagers in the Senior category they would want to have everyone use they’re skin care products to have beautiful skin on camera. My second sponsor would be S-Trip! because unannounced to all the participants that we’d film for about a month each, the team that had the best group dynamics would win an S-Trip! to celebrate the end of a season and to enjoy some relaxing team bonding! That’s my dream TV Show!

Till next time

-Nadia Afshar