I’m going to talk about what we sold, how the event went, and some tips and tricks for anyone interested in joining their own business fair.

We started preparing very early in the spring. This gave us an advantage because we didn’t have to rush through the process. We had many ideas, but later on, we decided to focus on a few products: travel journals, bubble pouches, bracelets, decoden brushes, and luggage tags!

We also had to think about which products were currently in demand, whether we would make a profit, and how much time and money it would take to create each product.

A week before the fair, we packed all our products and booth supplies into boxes. When we arrived at the venue, no one else was there—we were super early! For me, that was amazing because we had the chance to unload the car and settle into the venue. We were able to start setting up an hour before the doors opened.

It didn’t take us very long to prepare the booth, even though the venue became super crowded.

Skipping ahead to when the fair finished, everyone was very hot because there was barely any air conditioning inside the venue. However, we managed to clean everything up pretty quickly. At the end of the event, I was super grateful that many of our friends were able to stop by my booth and support the other booths as well!

Lastly, I’m going to share some tips for anyone thinking about joining a business fair or already preparing for one.

My first tip is to accept different types of payment (cash / credit card). You could miss out on many orders if you only accept cash.

My second tip is to bring snacks and a drink. Talking to customers can get tiring, so whenever you have the chance, make sure to eat something and drink plenty of water.

My third tip is to practise setting up your booth before the fair. This will give you an idea of how your booth will look and help you make any changes beforehand.

Before the Fair

During the Fair

That’s a wrap for today! I hope you enjoyed reading today’s blog, and I’ll see you in the next one!

On day one, I was very nervous. I had so many thoughts in my head, thinking of what could go wrong! How this works is we have the class portion first for 3 hours and then the swim portion in the pool right after for also 3 hours. Once I entered the classroom, I noticed that I was for sure the youngest one there and the smallest one there. We all sat down in our chairs and listened to our first aid teacher, Kylie, show us a very long presentation about the basics, like what the Lifesaving Society is, how to do CPR, and so much new information. This was all processing through my head for a while, but honestly, the best and first tip I could give you guys is to always take notes, even if your hand feels like it’s going to fall off. This helped me out so much to remember everything that I learned! After our 3 hours of CPR notes and even more notes, we had our snack time, and we got changed for the pool!

On day 1, I made 2 friends. They were both very kind, and they were also both 13! During the pool half, our Bronze Medallion lifeguard coach and teacher was Trinity. She was very good at teaching, and she was such a good lifeguard too! The first thing we did was the distance swim. We swam 400m nonstop in under 12 minutes. That was super tiring! After that, we did different strokes and the lifesaving strokes. We did different rescues, like the tow rescue and the throw rescue. Once day one finished, I was super exhausted from all those 7 hours of lifeguarding, but I felt a lot less nervous than how I felt before. That built up my confidence for day two.

Now, on day two, the nerves started going away, and I was for sure more prepared. During the class portion, we learned about treatment, signs & symptoms for shock, heart attack, cardiac arrest, burns, and like 15 whole more! This class portion felt like it took WAY too long, but I managed to stay awake the whole time. This was our last first aid class until day three, when we would do a written 41-question exam about everything we learned. As usual, we had a snack, and we changed for swimming. During our swimming portion, we did the 400m endurance swim test in under 12 minutes again, and we also did lifesaving kicks and all the rescues, including the carry rescue. But after we got them out of the water, we had to do primary, treatment, secondary, and then documentation for our victim. The rescues were very fun but, of course, hard at the same time! After day two, the nerves started to kick in again because we had that written exam the next day. I had no clue what questions could be on the test, but all I knew was that there were for sure some tricky questions.

Two days of hard work and 2 more days to go! On day 3, the classroom where we did first aid was very serious. Everyone in the room wanted to, of course, pass this HUGE exam! One hour later, we handed in our tests, got them marked, and waited… I received my test back and PASSED! I was now a basic first aider, which was super exciting. The test was mostly everything we did for the class portion. Next, we had the swimming portion, which was our last day until the lifeguarding exam on day 4. During swimming, we mainly focused on doing all the lifeguarding rescues. Some were difficult because of my size, like how small I am, but I found it pretty easy later on. Day 3 was a very fun but kind of hard day too. Day 3 got me all ready and prepped for the exam the next day.

Now here we are! So glad you guys made it to the end of this blog! On day 4, I put my swimsuit on, got my big swim duffle bag all packed and ready, and my dad and I drove off to the pool. We started with a review on the pool deck and then waited until 4:30 p.m. to begin the exam. In the exam, we had to perfect all 3 rescues and perfect all the first aid included. I think I did pretty well, even if I missed 1–2 things in one of the rescues! At the end, when the whole class was done, we all got changed and then got our results. I……. PASSED! I was so happy to receive the great news, and I had a lot of great thoughts going through my small head! After swimming, my family, some friends, and I ate outside and had an amazing rest of our day.

Now for some tips and tricks! If you’re about to start your very own Bronze Medallion journey, then I think it would be great for you to stay and read!

1- Take notes and make sure they’re clear to understand.

Taking notes will for sure help you with the exams, and making your notes clear will make sure you and other people can understand what your writing says.

2- Eat protein before you start.

Having a good lunch with some meat will make you stronger for what’s about to come next! Please don’t eat junk food for your lunch. You will most likely get cramps and tummy aches in the middle of your training!

3- When your instructor is talking or showing the class something, don’t interrupt.

This is very important so that everyone in the class can listen and for you to listen too. What if you miss something very important for the exam??

4- Be ready.

Being ready before you start is very essential. Make sure you don’t forget to pack anything in your bag, and make sure to wear the right gear. You don’t want to be the kid who forgets to pack their swimsuit or an extra change of clothes because, trust me, some kids do. Now for the last tip!

5- Make friends.

Making friends on the first day, if you don’t know anyone, is very important. You will have a lot of activities with groups or partners, and making friends helps you find a partner or group so much more easily.

Okay guys, that’s a wrap for today’s blog! I hope you guys found my tips helpful, and hopefully the blog wasn’t boring too! If you haven’t yet, you guys can look at my other blogs too. See you guys in the next blog!

Camp Engies is an all-girls camp based in Muskoka, Canada. It teaches girls in Grades 5 to 8 about engineering, including mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, and a super fun one, electrical engineering. There are usually around 200–300 girls attending Camp Engies, which makes it super fun to make new friends, especially with the girls in your cabin! Each cabin has around 24 girls, and there are 15 cabins at the camp.

Now, let’s talk about Day 1! I woke up and had breakfast at the hotel where I was staying. Then, I arrived at the camp at around 8:30 a.m., which was really early! I made my name tag, met some other girls who I became friends with, and dropped off my stuff at my cabin. I was the first girl in my cabin to arrive! First, we had breakfast at Pine Hall, where we had pancakes, waffles, fries, sausages, cereal, and fruit! All the food was so good, even though I wasn’t very hungry because I had already eaten breakfast at the hotel. For our first activity, we painted tote bags and did a water strip test comparing lake water and tap water. Right after these activities, we had lunch, where we ate burgers, fries, and fruit! I wasn’t a huge fan of burgers, so I made something like a cheeseburger. It started to rain, which was really sad because we had a lot of outdoor activities that had to be cancelled. For our third activity, we decorated boxes and made a mechanical feature inside our boxes using LEGO. This was my favourite activity because we were able to take the boxes home as souvenirs. After this, some people went swimming, while some of us stayed and played in the cabins! We played Marco Polo in the dark and had so much fun playing games during our free time! During the evening, we ate dinner, which included pasta, garlic bread, meatballs, and fruit. This was my favourite meal because I love good Alfredo pasta with garlic bread! Right after dinner, they gave us cheesecake with jam for dessert. At around 8:00 p.m., we started the campfire, where we sang camp songs and roasted marshmallows! At 10:00 p.m., we had a glow-in-the-dark dance party where we wore glow sticks, and they played music!!!!! After the big party, I went to bed and woke up early for Day 2!

I woke up at 5:00 a.m., which was super early, and I was the first one to wake up and get changed! We started packing our bags and other items before we went to breakfast. For breakfast, we had chocolate muffins, scrambled eggs, home fries, and so much more food! After breakfast, we had a group picture outside, which was super packed. Then, we began the engineering competition, and they grouped us by our first names. There were four people on each team. On my team, there was a Grade 4 student, a Grade 5 student, a Grade 6 student, which was me, and a Grade 7 student! For the challenge, we had to build a fortress that could hold weight. We were only allowed to use toothpicks, cotton balls, and glue. They gave us two hours to build it and one hour to present our fortress. Afterward, they announced the third, second, and first place winners. Unfortunately, we didn’t win, but I still think our team did a really good job with the challenge. Then, it was time for us to leave, so my parents picked me up, and I went back to the hotel.

At the end of the day, I had so much fun and was happy to meet new friends! See you guys in the next blog!

The two workshops I enrolled in were Nursing and Bioinformatics. Now let’s begin with my schedule. In the morning, we had our introduction in a really big university classroom from 9:45 to 10:00 AM.

My first class was Nursing where we were put into groups of two and had to do checkups on each other. It was really cool because we got a stethoscope to keep and they actually work pretty well! We also learned about triage. The example they gave was if there was a bus crash and you were the only person not hurt, you would sort people by red for immediate, yellow for delayed, green for minimal, and black for deceased.

After Nursing, we had lunch in the main classroom for about 30 minutes. Then for my second class we had Bioinformatics where they talked about how AI thinks. First it takes inputs, then the data goes through an algorithm, and finally it produces an output.

Out of the two topics, my favorite was Nursing because we got to do two really fun activities and I loved that we were able to keep freebies to bring home as a memory! That was my day at the U of T Girls in STEM Conference, see you guys in the next blog!

You might not know what Manie Musicale is or how it works, so let me explain. Manie Musicale is a super fun, March Madness style music competition played in French classes across schools, especially in Canada and the U.S. Students listen to French music from different artists, and then the songs are put into a bracket like a tournament. Each round, students vote for their favorite song, and the winners move on until there’s a final champion.

Next are my top 5 favorite songs out of the 16 songs. My number one favorite song is Toucher la lune by Maheva. In second place is Extraordinaire by Fredz. In third place is la vie qu’on mène by Mentissa. In fourth place is aussi simple que toi by Lenaïg. And finally, in fifth place is Je rentre à la maison by Boulevard des Airs.

These are my top 5 favorite songs from the Manie Musicale competition.

My number 1 favorite:

My Second favorite:

My Third favorite:

My fourth favorite:

My fifth favorite:

Lastly, I’ll be talking about my predictions for the semi-finals and the finals and how I chose these songs. I predicted that the semi-finals would be Extraordinaire vs La vie qu’on mène, and on the other side, Je rentre à la maison vs Et si. Then for the finals, I chose Extraordinaire vs Je rentre à la maison. Even though I was wrong about the semi-finals and the finals, I was still right that Je rentre à la maison would make it to both rounds, and I still managed to get third place in my class for the most prediction points. Below is the certificate and the prize I got from my French teacher.

To know more who made it in the list visit the main Manie Musicale Leaderboard Website. That’s it from me today. See you guys in the next blog post!

Au revoir for now!

When I was 8, my dad taught me a bit of Scratch coding, also known as block coding. I would follow videos from YouTube and the videos that the Scratch website already had. I remember that my favourite things to make in Scratch were games, like clicking games and ping pong games, but I also loved making stories where I would code the characters to talk!

Two years later, my parents enrolled me in a coding school called Ultimate Coders. I started with the basics in Scratch, but sooner or later I moved on to learning Python in the “Intro to Python” level. I learned how to use turtle and how to move and color them. I found this really fun to do, but I also loved making the turtles dance.

After Intro to Python, I started Python Beginner, where I would still use turtle but also learn how to make for loops, print statements, and while loops. Now here’s where things started to get more difficult. I went on to Python Intermediate, where I made games like Scrabble and Hangman. I also learned how to make receipts.

After this level, I went on to Python Advanced, where lessons got a lot harder, and they were also much longer.

On the side, I do Arduino. Arduino is where you connect wires and batteries to make lights appear. This is super fun to do if you love making things with your hands, but it also involves coding. Currently, I am in Arduino Intermediate.

Now let’s talk about tips and tricks if you want to start your very own coding journey.

My first tip is to invest time in it. Coding is not something you can learn in only 30 minutes—it takes time to make sure you get your code correct.

My second tip is to start with block coding. My most recommended website is Scratch, but this is only if you’ve never done anything with coding before.

My third tip is don’t rush your code projects. Rushing will only lead to errors and less detail. If you take your time, you’ll have great code to show off to people.

My last and final tip is that you can start at home or find a coding school to learn. If you’re going to start at home, make sure you have an iPad or a laptop to use.

I hope you enjoyed this blog, and I also hope that you learned a few things here too. Can’t wait to see you on the next one!

On Friday, I got my braces. I was nervous because I heard that it was painful, but I was also feeling excited to get nice teeth. It was great that they tell you what the process is before they give you braces. Surprisingly, the process was really simple.

The first step is they will clean your teeth. Then after, they will apply this blue gel to clean your teeth (warning: it tastes like vinegar…). The second step is they are going to put this glue that tastes like nail polish. After that, the third step is for them to put the braces on. The fourth step is for them to measure and put on the wire, and the last and best step is adding the color, even though, in my opinion, it is a bit painful.

I chose the color light blue, but I ended up regretting my choice because they got stained green on the second day, which I ended up changing the next day to navy blue.

Right after getting my braces, me and my family went to a Chinese restaurant. About 4 hours after eating, my teeth started to get really sore. It was hard to eat almost all foods. Luckily, we managed to go to an ice cream store where I got Moose Tracks flavored ice cream. The ice cream really helped to numb the pain a bit. At the end, I took Advil, which really helped before I slept. The pain usually lasts for 3–7 days.

Now for tips, I have so many tips and tricks, but let’s start with what colors to choose. I’m not trying to say that you need to get these colors, but the best colors, in my opinion, are dark purple, black, and my favorite, navy blue. Try not to get light colors like pink, light blue, and periwinkle, because those stain super easily. The worst colors people say are green, yellow, and brown. These colors will look like you have food in your mouth and make your teeth look more yellow than white.

Next tip is to eat right after getting your braces, because after 3 hours your teeth may start to get sore. Once they do, make sure to take Advil or Tylenol to help with the pain, or eat ice cream or drink ice-cold water to numb it.

Last tip is all about what foods you should not eat. Don’t eat popcorn, gummies, taffy, sticky candy, hard candy, nuts, or pizza crust. These could break your braces and also get stuck in them. Make sure to cut your food into smaller pieces too.

That’s all from me today! I hope this blog helps if you’re getting your braces!

On the first day, it was mostly a refresher, but I still learned some new lifeguarding techniques like lifesaving kicks, which they did not teach in my first Bronze Star course. I felt like the easiest part of this whole journey was the first aid because I had most of the info already in my knowledge from my first Bronze Star course.

On the second day, we focused on CPR for a baby, kid, and an adult. We also focused on rescuing people by doing head-up freestyle or head-up breaststroke to get to them, then sculling the buoy to them (sculling is used so that the victim does not push us down if they are a weak or non-swimmer), and then towing them back to the other side by doing a lifesaving kick. A lifesaving kick is used to keep our head above the water and make sure we can keep an eye on the victim. These can include eggbeater, scissors kick, and whip kick.
The third day was our last day to practice before the final assessment. For first aid, we focused on where to put the AED on a baby, kid, and an adult. An AED has 2 pads that go on the right shoulder and the left bottom side of the person. The AED is used to help restart the heart so that it can keep beating. We also practiced what to say to our bystander. You could say something like, “Call 911, we have a 15-year-old female that just came out of the water. She has no cuts. Can you get the AED?”
In the water, we practiced how to swim with clothes on and how to make your clothes into a life buoy. We had to bring a long-sleeve top. After that, we practiced tossing the buoy to a victim who is close by. Lastly, on the third day, we did the obstacle swim, which was my favourite because it was also a relay!

The fourth and final day was assessment day, which can always be nerve-wracking. We first started with first aid, where we had to do the full run of Primary 1. It was really intense, but of course super fun. After that, we did our rescue drills, lifesaving kicks, a 200m swim, sculling, entries (like shallow dive, stride jump, compact jump, and slip-in), and lastly we did a review.

Now it was time to see who passed or who failed. While we were waiting, we did the water rock climbing wall, which was super fun to jump off and climb back on top. Once my coach called my name, she talked about what I did well and what could have been better, but she said that the mistakes were super minor, so I passed! I was super happy to hear that I was now able to go on to Bronze Medallion!

I hope this blog inspired you to try the Bronze Star lifeguarding course, and I hope that you make it if you try it. Now that’s a wrap from today’s blog. Hope you guys enjoyed it, see you guys in the next one!

Let’s start with my most favourite hotel. So, starting at number one is Hotel Bleu in Marseilles. I went to this hotel in 2025. Hotel Bleu is a beautiful ocean boat dock view hotel. All the staff are really nice, but do you know what is really the best part of this hotel? It’s the pool! The pool is outdoor, but it was just so clean, and it was an infinity pool. We would always stay in the pool for most of the time at the hotel.

Now to the rooms. Can I just say that the rooms are like coming from a dream? The blue and white colours just make the room feel so welcoming, but also so calming. I love how the beds were super comfy and that you can also ask for extra pillows, which is great for people who love their pillows! When you wake up early in the morning, the breakfast is just so yummy. They have a wide selection from a buffet, but they also have a menu. You can find all the French foods at breakfast! But if you’re not so much of a breakfast person, then you may have to wait for the yummy lunch and dinner! This hotel is great for families, but also if you want somewhere not so crowded.

Okay, so that was a wrap from Hotel Bleu, and now second on my list is Hotel Toujours, which in English is “Hotel Always.” I went to this hotel in 2023. Hotel Toujours is a small, quiet, very beautiful hotel in the heart of Paris. This hotel is great for long stays, but somewhat pricey. The rooms are to die for. These rooms are small but, warning, so comfy!

Now let’s talk about the breakfast. If you’re the type of person who loves French pastries but also loves to have pancakes, and of course French hot chocolate with them, then their breakfast is made for you. Me and my family would always choose this place for the perfect breakfast.

Hold on guys, we’re not done yet! This hotel may seem like a sweet and small hotel with no pool to fit inside, but of course there’s a pool! It’s a tiny, sweet pool that could turn into a hot tub with bubbles. You would need to rent the pool, but it’s worth it. You will also have a gym and sauna if you’re not the pool type.

Unfortunately, that’s a final wrap from today’s blog. See you guys on the next one!

I’ve been swimming for 5 years, since I was 6 years old. Here’s my story. When I was younger, my dad would try to teach me how to swim in pools we went to, but of course, a young kid does not want to learn something, we just want to play! A few years later, my dad enrolled me in swimming lessons. I started to get way better at my technique, and most importantly, I was fast. I went from Level 1 all the way to swim team.

In winter 2023, I had my first ever swim competition. I joined a 25m freestyle heat, a 25m breaststroke heat, and a 25m backstroke heat. When I first stepped into the pool room, I got really nervous. In my head, I was thinking, what if everyone is faster than me? What if I lose in every heat? Instead of thinking bad thoughts, I should have been thinking about the good things that could happen.I kept watching all the other heats until it was time for my first one, which was freestyle. They called my name, and I got ready. I was super nervous, but ready to swim. In my first heat, freestyle, I got second place. In my second heat, breaststroke, I got second place. And lastly, in my third heat, backstroke, I got first place!

Lastly, I’ll share some of my tips and tricks. My first tip is to eat protein and a banana 2 hours before your competition. The protein will make you strong, and the banana will help stop cramps. My second tip is to not have sugar before you race. You may think it will boost your energy, but it can actually give you a headache or make your stomach hurt. My last and final tip is to stretch before your swimming competition, but make sure not to overstretch or you might get a cramp.

Now that’s a wrap on my first ever swimming competition! Make sure to check out my other blogs if you haven’t already. See you in the next one!