Jenna M.
Not everyone can be famous, but everyone can be great, because greatness is determined by service.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Take it day by day.”
That’s the life philosophy that Jenna, a senior at Forest Lawn High School in Northeast Calgary, posted on a popular teen website.
For Jenna, it’s not just a slogan but the sage words she survives by.
Jenna volunteers as a mentor to help coach and teach hockey to at-risk youth for the H.E.R.O.S. Program.
Coming from a dysfunctional and abusive home environment is a common thread weaving through the lives of many HEROS participants.
“I can really relate to these kids because I come from a similar family dynamic,” Jenna says.
Her parents became estranged when she was a young child. The absence of a stable family life growing up meant there was no one in her life she could look up to.
By Jenna’s own account, her home situation was a double-edged sword.
“It made me very unsure about who I could trust and even how to make real friends,” she says.
“But at the same time, it also made me stronger, more independent and self-reliant.”
In 2006, she heard about H.E.R.O.S. starting up in Calgary and their need for girl mentors. For Jenna, the hockey education program presented an ideal opportunity.
She began playing the game at age 12 for a midget league team, the GMCA Rockies.
“Hockey is my life,” she says. “I don’t know what I would do without it.”
Now an assistant captain of her team, playing centre in the lucky number seven jersey, she aspires to play in the Girls Junior A leagues.
That first day of the Calgary H.E.R.O.S. Program, no one had a clue what to do or expect, especially since most of the kids had never skated before.
Jenna arrived at the rink somewhat quiet and reserved. But when she entered the dressing room everything changed.
The slight, petite, tomboyish girl promptly began lacing up skates and doling out hockey equipment and instructions to both the girls and adult volunteers with equal doses of good humour and authoritative support.
Towards the end of that first session, all of the kids were up skating. Some even managed to skate backwards. Their rapid transformation was nothing short of remarkable.
Jenna benefited from Starburst, another recreational program, created for at-risk girls in Calgary when she was still a young teen.
That positive experience helped build her self-esteem and make better life choices. It also inspired her to volunteer with both the City of Calgary Park and Play program and later the Boys and Girls Club of Calgary to help children from similar circumstances.
These experiences, combined with the H.E.R.O.S. Program, helped Jenna discover how much she liked working with children and how well they responded to her.
“I think it was largely because some strangers cared enough to take a sincere interest in them,” she says.
“Seeing what some of these kids are going through, who are maybe unpopular and without many friends, made me really want to reach out and help.”
Now, after just two years of mentoring with H.E.R.O.S., Jenna’s improved leadership and communication skills have helped her find a part-time job at a local bowling alley to support herself. She also found her own apartment when living at home became intolerable.
Following graduation, with the help of a H.E.R.O.S. scholarship, Jenna plans to enter college to study social work. Her goal is to become a child and youth care worker.
The H.E.R.O.S. Program “helped me to open up and learn how to trust again,” Jenna says.
“Now I want to make a career out of helping kids in the same way I’ve been helped.”
