After representing Wellesley as the fair ambassador over the last year, Avery Flynn placed seventh in the Ambassador of the Fair competition at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto last week.
The competition saw 31 ambassadors (normally around 70 in non-covid years) from across Ontario compete to represent the CNE over the next year.
The weekend full of seminars and workshops appeared daunting beforehand, but ended up being a great experience, Flynn explained.
The semi-finals of the competition saw the ambassadors give a one-minute speech on suggested topics and answer impromptu questions. While that was nerve-wracking, Flynn also received support along the way.
“The CNE was there to help us. They weren’t there to try to put us on the spot. All the ambassadors, the chaperones, the speakers, they were all there to help us and we were all there to help each other,” she said
Flynn chose to speak on what it means to be Canadian.
“Canada is so different that sometimes it’s hard to find similarities between everyone. We have our huge cities and then we have our small agricultural societies. And I thought trying to tie them together to what it truly means to be Canadian for every single person who lived here was really important,” she said.
Finishing seventh was quite an experience, Flynn explained.
“Once I heard my name, my heart just started pounding and it was definitely a surreal feeling. And also seeing the friends that I’ve made there get called up was also fulfilling too.”
Kathy McNaughton, Ambassador of the Fair program coordinator, said “It was a pleasure to meet Avery. She stood out as a fine young woman with a great deal of potential and her community is lucky to have her. I’m sure part of the reason why she’s the wonderful person she is, is because the community does support her,” McNaughton said.
“She did an incredible job all weekend long representing the community.”
There are multiple things Flynn says she’s going to take away from the experience.
“I now have more experience in public speaking and I have these skills to take with me, but I also have made so many amazing friendships with all these ambassadors. I think that is the main thing that I’m taking away from this is that experience with all of them that we all shared, and we’re never going to forget.”
