My name is Lisa Pitre and I am currently 17 years old, attending Mathieu-Martin High School in the 12th grade.  I am able to speak fluently in French and in English. I am considered a curious student who loves to read, write and socialize, which is why next year I am planning to study in journalism. I participate actively in extracurricular activities such as improvisation, theatre, the school’s concert band and the school paper. I love the arts department in general but most of all; I love the sport of baton twirling.

Baton Twirling: I love to express myself, challenge myself and learn continually, which are some main reasons for me to continue to excel in this sport. But the overall reason that has kept me going for the past 9 years is the passion I possess for the sport. You can always learn something new and built on it. I can be determined to catch a certain trick or attain a certain goal and will not stop until it is achieved. Baton twirling is often not recognized as a sport but can easily be considered a very demanding blend of gymnastics and dance.  I recently was declared a fully certified level 1 coach, and am currently working on becoming a level 2 fully certified coach. This is my third year coaching mostly recreational and pre-competitive athletes. This summer, I will have the opportunity of a lifetime and fulfill my dream:  to participate in an International Competition for baton twirling.

Improvisation: Improvisation is a form of theatre, which involves acting, singing, talking and reacting. In general, it is creating a story out of a given theme using only your imagination and a jersey. Other expressions used to describe this are "let's play it by ear," "take it as it comes," and "make it up as we go along".  I started this in the 9th grade, but only really got involved this year with the tournaments and such. What I like most is being able to work with other people in creating a story out of nothing.

Theatre/Drama:  I have always loved the theatre. I love acting and being a part of a group attempting to create a piece of art. I have spent a great deal of time mastering my roles and being a part of the high school drama club for the past 2 years. Last year, I played a series of roles in a play written by three 12th grade students called “The Acadian Pentagone”. I was a mother and a janitor accused of being a terrorist that was really an undercover talent scout. This year, I was a psychotic maid in our representation of “La Cantatrice Chauve” from an absurd writer called Ionesco.  I also decided to take a dramatic arts class at school, which teaches us concentration, confidence, learning to work as a group, explore our creativity and overall.

Harmonie/Jazz: Music has always been a big part of my life. Every member of my family has played an instrument, and my father is a music teacher.  I played the violon for 7 years, starting at 4 years old. As my priorities changed, I decided that I loved baton twirling even more. I decided to join Harmonie, which is the school concert band in the 7th grade, and I then joined the Jazz ensemble in the same year. I played the trumpet for 4 years in both ensembles, and last year I shifted to a more challenging instrument, the french horn, in the concert band. I still participate actively in Harmonie, but unfortunately this year, the student interest in the jazz ensemble was minimal, so we were unable to form the comitee. Last year, our concert band had the opportunity of participating in a music festival in New York and winning a gold merit (mark of 93%), the jazz ensemble received a silver merit. This year, we will be participating in a big music festival in Boston may 2nd. Other than Harmonie and Jazz, I am capable of playing the piano and reading music and I also practice singing occasionally.

Journalism: Last year, I decided to join the school newspaper comitee. I wrote several articles every now and then I decided to form a logo that we often use for our front page of this year’s editions of the school paper. This year, I am involved a lot more. I help make the paper presentable and appealing to the students as I help with the graphic styling. I still write articles, mostly about the arts and culture sector in our school and in the community to try to promote the importance of this in our society. I also write occasionally for “Kaboom” which is a french newspaper published every two weeks, written by and for students in New-Brunswick. I became interested in pursuing a career in journalism last year, but only decided this year that I wanted to go into broadcast journalism. I decided to do a coop course of three school credits last semester at “journal l’Étoile” which is a weekly local community newspaper. I got to explore the field of a journalist a bit and appreciated the experience I gained. I recently got accepted at the University of Ottawa in a 4-year study program for Journalism and will be attending in the school in the Fall.