Miranda Tulsi was a participant at Grenoble City programs in 1999 when she was in Grade 4.
“Moorelands helped me become the person I am today…whenever I look back or think about my time at Moorelands, it always puts a smile on my face.”
Since then she has cultivated a long-standing and fruitful connection to Moorelands. In 2009, after a few years away focusing on school, she became a Program Assistant at our current version of the After-School Progam, the Grenoble Budding Leaders After-School Team (BLAST). Miranda laughs that once she got Moorelands in her system, she couldn’t shake it: “I’ve worked at Moorelands as an assistant, a leader, a snack coordinator, in the office as an admin assistant and at day camp as a counselor…My mom says that , up to this day, I’ve never wanted to go home!”
When Miranda was aged 10 and at Moorelands’ After-School program at Grenoble PS (now BLAST), the Program Coordinator at the time, Mitchell, decided to try a unique project. “He asked us all to write to our 25 year old selves,” explains Miranda, “I can’t remember exactly what we put in the package but I do remember being asked to keep it safe and not open it until we turned 25!”
On February 6, 2015, (shortly after her 25th birthday) Miranda visited the Moorelands’ office with the package from her grade four self in hand. “I promised Katie (Wright – City Programs Manager) that I’d wait until I saw her before I opened it.” Miranda tells us as we sit down to open the manila envelope, “I really have no idea what I wrote about when I was in grade 4!”
On opening the package, Miranda found that rather than writing herself a letter, she had written a booklet – a time-capsule – from her 10 year old self! Inside were details of her likes and dislikes in grade 4, her best friends (some of whom she is still best friends with now) and her predictions about the future. At 10 years old, Miranda imagined that she would be living in a big house with her immediate family, that they would have moved next door to her cousins and that she would be a ‘skater’ or a ‘baseball player’! Her family does now live in a house and her cousins live 10 minutes away, so she’s pretty much achieved her dream…just need to work on those pitching skills now Miranda…
Since her days in our Grenoble program, as well as being a committed member of the Moorelands’ Community, Miranda has found time to get her pre-Media Fundamentals Certificate from Seneca College, her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications from York University and her Post-Graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management from George Brown…she may not have become a baseball player but she’s certainly been a very busy lady!
Looking back on her memories of Moorelands’ programs, Miranda remarks, ‘Moorelands has helped me become the person I am today. It has helped me with social skills and whenever I look back or think about my time at Moorelands, it always puts a smile on my face. It’s amazing how I can still remember how much fun I had at After-school Program… I remember when my program leader, Mitchell, would bring his guitar and we would sit on the red circle and sing songs. I loved it so much!”
Everyone at Moorelands was so happy that Miranda allowed us to be a part of this special moment as she reconnected with her past. We’re so proud that our programs give kids, like Miranda, the skills they need to succeed and that the connections forged at our programs withstand the test of time!
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