Hippie-at-Heart!

Never in a million years would I have thought that today, I would be going into high schools all across Canada, set up this massive sound board that controls all the sound for our show and learn how to live this glamorous life on the road. This is all so new to me, but it’s very easy to take myself out of my life in Victoria and travel on a bus, live out of different homes, churches and schools because I am a “hippie-at-heart” as my team would say.We do not know where our next meal will come from and that’s okay because every day is an adventure. One thing that troubles me is that I have limited options during mealtime because I am a vegetarian. If there is one dish for a meal and there is meat in it, I will take out my protein bar and use that as a meal replacement because I am Zoe Bigauskas. I have something to say about everything and I can pull a fact out of my brain at any given time, so the team just laughs and giggles because I often just “pull a Zoe”. It’s important to joke around and have fun on this four month long tour, the ten of us are together every single day and when the going gets tough, we have to work through every thing like a family. Talk about things that have been working and things that we have to improve on. To go into schools every day and show students what it’s like to be a responsible person, the importance of giving, and the power of hope, it needs to start with us.I never thought I would have such a huge impact on people’s lives in a positive way. The students we speak to are just people and I was one of them just last year, a student in high school trying to make a purpose out of my life. It’s interesting how a lot of the times I don’t share my story but people still come up to talk to me, open up their lives to me and I know that I am able to be a listening ear to those who seek help.I approach students every day and they often let me know that our presentation has truly impacted their lives. I realize that these students do want to do something different about the way they have been living, they want to make a change, and that’s what makes me get up every morning.Sometimes it is easy to lose focus of our goal, but just keeping in mind our purpose and our message, it makes me want to take out all the gear from the bus, set up my sound board, and get ready for another engaging show. I know that each presentation there is always a chance for us to reach at least one student in the crowd and that alone is what keeps me going everyday.Zoe, a School of Leadership student on the road