Whether he’s running around doing last-minute catering for our Leaders In Training (LIT) Conference or advising the BYTE staff as to which car they should buy next, Elias Park has been a great asset to the BYTE team for the past four months. As Elias’s position comes to a close, we wanted to make sure we gave him one last shout-out to send him off!
Elias Park, LIT Project Coordinator for 2014
Elias was hired as the LIT Project Coordinator in December 2013, and has been working hard over the past four months to make another year of LIT a success. He did everything from organize the location and dates of the conference, to reaching out to the communities for participants and lining up the budget. The best part of the job?
“Getting the feedback from the kids on how well the conference went,†Elias says.
And we can see why. We got lots of great feedback from participants and chaperones on the conference this year. One adult noticed the changes in one of the youth who attended the conference: “I feel like [the conference] opened up all those great qualities I knew she had, but that she kept hidden from the world,†she told us. Without all of Elias’s hard work, the conference and these types of experiences for the youth may not have happened the way they did.
Elias welcomes the youth to the 2014 LIT Conference
Elias has been involved with BYTE as a member of our facilitation team since 2012. He traveled to Watson Lake twice with BYTE; the first time to deliver a workshop on safe partying with Community Outreach Coordinator Tanyss Knowles, and the second time to co-facilitate the MOVE! Youth Helping Youth End Violence program with Whitehorse Coordinator Allison Furniss.
Now that his position at BYTE is wrapping up, Elias will be heading over to Blood Ties Four Directions Centre to work as a facilitator for their Young Eagles Challenge. This project involves engaging a group of youth between age 12-20 to educate them about HIV and AIDS prevention and stigmas. Once Elias and the other facilitators have spent seven days delivering the content to the group of youth, the youth will be able to bring the content back to their communities.
And in the long term? Elias is planning on attending Okanagan College in either Kelowna or Penticton to study mechanics this coming fall. His passion for trucks and cars hasn’t gone unnoticed around the BYTE office, and we’re excited that he’s pursuing his passion.
Thanks for all your hard work, Elias, and good luck in the future!