I recently got the position of Chief Returning Officer within the Internal Affairs Commission of my Alma Mater Society at Queen's University. In essence, I am in charge of elections within the AMS next year.  It's a very exciting job for me, but also I anticipate it will be extremely difficult. My role has not officially started, yet I'm already facing issues of apathy and lack of motivation and involvement within my student community. 

As a result of coming face to face with this prevailing issue, I've been thinking back on my days as a teenager (I'm almost 20, and this may not seem like a big deal to some of you who are older, but right now, I'm also mid-mourning for my teenage years).  What I realized was that I was apathetic until a certain age too.  I can't pinpoint what got me interested in getting invovled in my community and my world.  It seems as if one day, I just woke up, realized I had a lot to offer and a lot to gain from the world and started getting more involved in my school and community and investing in myself and the growth of my skills, as a result. 

What is it that holds back a lot of today's youth, then? What was that magical ingredient that gets youth rolling in the right direction?

This blog post is more of a discussion opportunity with the TIG community that I know is incredible, invovled, inspired and extremely motivated; a chance to share your thoughts, opinions and maybe even best practices to get YOUTH motivated, involved and anti-apathetic to the world around them. What is your opinion on apathy? What have you done to combat it?