September 24, 2010
Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada
Photo Media Class Lesson: Be the World Champion of Thank Yous
Jason Terry stacks students in this photo to get closer to his subjects faces and creatively frame one of five Bell 407 Helis.
“I’ve found in life the more you give the more that comes back to you.” -Joe Kowalski, owner Ottawa Kayak School Keeners Youth Program
Background Relation to Niagara Helicopters
Four days ago New River Academy stopped at Niagara Falls, Ontario for one purpose, to excitedly receive free helicopter rides over the famous Niagara Falls. Jessica Droujko had attended the spring Chile semester and this summer won the title of “Canadian National Jr. Women Kayak Champion.” This title also earns Jessica the prestigious honor of competing by invitation in the 2011 World Freestyle Kayak Championships.
Click to check out Niagara Helicopters
The Droujko’s were immediately interested in Jessica’s training and soon enrolled her in the New River Academy spring semester to Uganda. Lena Droujko graciously invited the entire school for a free heli ride over Niagara Falls. Lena would also give the student body free passes to attractions such as Ripley’s Believe it or Not, Ripley’s Moving Theatre, and a curious wax musuem. The Droujko’s hospitality did not end there. Lena invited our five girls to stay at their home and Niagara Helicopters fed the school both dinner and breakfast. Add to that free group photos and the Droujko’s are very popular amongst the New River Academy camp.
YES, YEs, Yes we know, “What a fantastic photo class opportunity.” But there is actually a bigger lesson to be learned here than just snapping shots. For strictly photo lesson purposes we focused on pre-prep photography and capturing creative group shots. “Try to envision a group photo different than just the typical straight on shot.” Why? Square group shots often can not get close enough to faces, and may miss telling a story. Jason Terry caught this creatively “people stacking” shots that allowed him to get close to the faces and illustrate the heli.
The Bigger Picture or Life Lesson: “Be the World Champion of Thank-Yous.”
Call it old school traditional values or what ever you please. The truth is that youth most often just don’t think about the value of being thankful. Why is that? In general until you have owned a home, planned events, cooked group dinners, or done extensive work for others you just do not have a perspective that allows one to have an understanding of the efforts and energy these tasks take.
Slowly, New River Academy students begin to experience cooking for groups of 20 and even gain responsibility for planning group events.
Let’s examine a common kayak group event for today’s lesson. The “Freestyle Kayak Competition” is a well-known event to each student. And it is common that at such events many people walk around complaining about the timing, the structure, the food… Unless, of course, you are one of the few who has experienced the challenges of being in charge.
“What can I do?” is a school philosophy and weekly award that sets goals to instill in each of us the idea of asking what we can do to help in such situations. Further, as students are taught and given responsibilities they begin to experience new life-perspectives of what it takes to plan such events.
Lena Droujko and Ruedi Hafen, owners Niagara Helicopters, simply went above and beyond. Lena arranged free heli rides, invited the girls into her home, provided two meals for 20 persons, gave free passes to Niagara attractions, and was our personal host. Additionally, when the school Suburban began to experience problems she took us to their family Porsche mechanic. He put some rear-end fluid in the differential box and sent us on our way.
Is being thankful really that valuable? Any person who has mastered this skill realizes the tremendous value. And I for one could use a class or two myself. For now, let’s be proud we are focusing on it today. First and foremost any person such as Lena Droujko and Ruedi Hafen of Niagara Helicopters should have songs of praise written about them for the extended hospitality. And to not go out of one’s way to thank them would just seem, well for lack of a better word… lacking. Second, trying to write about value of thank yous seems a bit self-centered like your doing it for some personal gain. But the blunt truth is that those persons in life who are masters of “thanking” tend to have endless doors of opportunity opening for them. For today’s lesson we’ll leave it at these two points.
A student posed the question, “What can we do to repay you?” And Lena replied, “You can post your great experiences on our facebook page and write a summary of your experience on Tripadvisor.” So, it is with great pleasure that New River Academy photography and videography class share our photo, video, and blogging talents and thank this family that was impressively gracious to our school family.
Attention: New River Academy Families
We want to encourage you to also send your thank yous to Lena and Ruedi and soon enough your child will be getting to know Jessica.
Niagara Helicopters Facebook Page
Niagara Helicopters Trip Advisor Page
“Thank you” families for your support.
“And that has made all the difference.”
by David Hughes
Executive Director- Huge Experiences’ New River Academy
