Clara Hughes Biography Essay
Clara Hughes; gold medal olympian, mental health spokesperson, global citizen and many more outstanding achievements. Most importantly she is a leader to Canadians and around the world to anyone who she comes across. She leads as a positive example in many ways as a democratic leader, she values others opinions as proven by her position as an Honourary Witness for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is part of a national, comprehensive response to the Indian Residential School legacy. She works with many boards and councils, such as the former, valuing everyone's opinion on the topic they are discussing. Her biggest success has been with Bell let’s talk initiative but there’s multiple other companies she has had success in working
…show more content…
with and continues to do so such as; NYHDP: The Nunavik Youth Hockey Development Program,Right To Play, Take a Hike, and The AMYDF who works with provincial organizations. All the companies work with kids and adolescents because they will soon be the future. She makes many contributions to groups like carrying out the flag and competing for team Canada during the Olympics when years before she suffered from severe depression stopping her from training.
Clara hasn’t always had an easy life. At a young age her parents got divorced, she started smoking and experimenting with drugs, she skipped school and acted without a care. Until she found her motivation while watching an olympic speed skater. This is when she started training and straightening out her attitude. Clara became a gold medal olympian in both the summer and winter games for cycling and speedskating. The road to success was hard, after her first time competing in the 1996 Olympics where she brought back two bronze medals, she was suffering with depression. She tried to continue training, but found herself tired, depressed and pushing others away. She finally received from one of her trainers who made an effort to talk to her. It was not easy for her and again it shows her strength and it inspires others that it is okay to get help with depression. Now she works to help end the stigma around mental health. She knows the effects mental health and drugs can have on a kids life so she attempts to help everyone she can by sharing her story. Clara inspires Canadian health in many ways; mentally and physically.
She turned her life around from smoking to being in the Olympics. She overcame depression to win 6 gold medals for Canada. She fully embraces the strength to overcome challenges we face. In 2014, Clara started her 110-day national bicycle tour through every province and territory in Canada. “Clara’s Big Ride,” covered more than 11,000 kilometres, visited 105 communities and did over 235 events raising awareness for mental health. She is a perfect example of overcoming a barrier, following your dreams and working hard for what you want. She uses physical education as a platform; The Nunavik Youth Hockey Development Program promotes the importance of education and staying active while encouraging young Inuit to pursue their education while practicing and developing more than just hockey skills. Right to play is all over the world encouraging a healthy active lifestyle; and finally Take a Hike is an education program that is targeted towards at-risk youth through a combination of adventure-based learning, academics, counseling, and community involvement. This program guides youth to find their own trail of positivity creating positive outcomes. Take a Hike adapts to everyone’s situation allowing the to be as successful as possible and giving them survival skills for life. Through these programs and many others she inspires people everywhere to take a stand and get active to raise awareness for a
cause. Clara has taught me many things about leadership such as; you do not need to have a big responsibility to one organization. She works with many corporations easily by taking a smaller role in which she will still create an impact but enough where she can do many different things. She has showed me that passion can drive you to create positivity worldwide. I always thought a leader would have one main cause and stick to it until it changes and not have multiple that you can intertwine. Clara has proved me wrong by doing so many things she built ideas based off the other companies making others more successful. It’s not about one organization's success but all of them. Sometimes I have so many ideas in my head I feel like I need to only think of one where in reality I could make them all work together to help someone.
with and continues to do so such as; NYHDP: The Nunavik Youth Hockey Development Program,Right To Play, Take a Hike, and The AMYDF who works with provincial organizations. All the companies work with kids and adolescents because they will soon be the future. She makes many contributions to groups like carrying out the flag and competing for team Canada during the Olympics when years before she suffered from severe depression stopping her from training.
Clara hasn’t always had an easy life. At a young age her parents got divorced, she started smoking and experimenting with drugs, she skipped school and acted without a care. Until she found her motivation while watching an olympic speed skater. This is when she started training and straightening out her attitude. Clara became a gold medal olympian in both the summer and winter games for cycling and speedskating. The road to success was hard, after her first time competing in the 1996 Olympics where she brought back two bronze medals, she was suffering with depression. She tried to continue training, but found herself tired, depressed and pushing others away. She finally received from one of her trainers who made an effort to talk to her. It was not easy for her and again it shows her strength and it inspires others that it is okay to get help with depression. Now she works to help end the stigma around mental health. She knows the effects mental health and drugs can have on a kids life so she attempts to help everyone she can by sharing her story. Clara inspires Canadian health in many ways; mentally and physically.
She turned her life around from smoking to being in the Olympics. She overcame depression to win 6 gold medals for Canada. She fully embraces the strength to overcome challenges we face. In 2014, Clara started her 110-day national bicycle tour through every province and territory in Canada. “Clara’s Big Ride,” covered more than 11,000 kilometres, visited 105 communities and did over 235 events raising awareness for mental health. She is a perfect example of overcoming a barrier, following your dreams and working hard for what you want. She uses physical education as a platform; The Nunavik Youth Hockey Development Program promotes the importance of education and staying active while encouraging young Inuit to pursue their education while practicing and developing more than just hockey skills. Right to play is all over the world encouraging a healthy active lifestyle; and finally Take a Hike is an education program that is targeted towards at-risk youth through a combination of adventure-based learning, academics, counseling, and community involvement. This program guides youth to find their own trail of positivity creating positive outcomes. Take a Hike adapts to everyone’s situation allowing the to be as successful as possible and giving them survival skills for life. Through these programs and many others she inspires people everywhere to take a stand and get active to raise awareness for a
cause. Clara has taught me many things about leadership such as; you do not need to have a big responsibility to one organization. She works with many corporations easily by taking a smaller role in which she will still create an impact but enough where she can do many different things. She has showed me that passion can drive you to create positivity worldwide. I always thought a leader would have one main cause and stick to it until it changes and not have multiple that you can intertwine. Clara has proved me wrong by doing so many things she built ideas based off the other companies making others more successful. It’s not about one organization's success but all of them. Sometimes I have so many ideas in my head I feel like I need to only think of one where in reality I could make them all work together to help someone.