Patricia Kotovich

My name is Patricia Kotovich. I live in Vancouver, B.C, Canada. I am a grade 11 student with an aspiring goal to one day become a famous journalist, marry a gorgeous, intelligent guy, have 2.5 children and make at least one appearance on "Oprah." At the moment though, I am working on preparing myself for the exciting world on journalism. I've lived in British Columbia all my life and one day I would like travel the world. So far, journalism has begun to meet my most plausible goals and I'm not even out of high school yet. I'm here at the "World Conservation Congress" in Montreal as a student journalist. It all started about a year ago in my social studies class. We were working in the school library and I was encredilbly disinterested. I picked up a copy of "T.G. Magazine and started flipping through it. I enjoyed the "What's hot and what's not" column and the numerous articles on racism, cars and other things that are actually relevant to me. Then, I came across an add for "The Student's Commission" It immediately interested me and I was anxious to read on but my teacher was glaring at me so I had to put it away to look at it later. I asked my school counsellor, my foster parents, and everyone else I knew and no one seemed to have heard of it, but I decided to send my application in anyway. So I was very surprised when I was accepted. Nevertheless, I attended the fifth national Student"s commission in Ottawa in the summer of 1995 and it changed my life. I started getting involved and speaking out. I wrote my first articles for The Burnaby Now among other things. I was discovering my voice. Now I am an executive member of The Federation of B.C. Youth In Care Networks steering Committee, I have written for several different public and company newsletters, and had poetry published. I am very proud to be among 21 youth journalists with similar goals and aspirations. (Except for maybe the gorgeous, intelligent guy thing.) So, Opera, if your reading, I'll be busy for the next year or so, preparing myself to venture "into the great wide open ."