Tara Maracas

Youth worker – Home – École Citadel Middle School (sd43.bc.ca)

For my community communication, I Chose Tara, because I admired her leadership and mindset. I have graduated the same school she is currently working, and throughout the years, I got to know more about her. She is always open to new conversations, suggestions, or opinions, and she is a great listener. When she is listening, she isn’t always on one side but instead, she is mutual and looks into the problem, which I think is a great personality.

Can you explain your roles and responsibilities in your current position?

Youth worker for the whole school, the voice of the children. The responsibility is to make connections with the students and to be an advocate, for the communication between teachers/staff, and students. Making sure the students are in a healthy (physical and emotional) mindset. Tara Maracas is a youth worker at Citadel Middle School, and her responsibilities are ensuring students are in a stable and healthy environment.

What obstacles have you faced to get you where you are today?

The hardest struggle Tara faced was getting hired district, for which she had to wait 6 years to be hired as a full-time youth worker for the district43.

What advice would you pass on to someone interested in what you are doing?

She suggests a program called CYCC. Child and Youth Care (Bachelor of Arts) | BACYCC | Douglas College(Childe and Youth Care Counselling Program) in Douglas College for a better understanding of the youth children. Also, she said it would be extremely beneficial if you are a person who is positive, and has leadership because it will open more opportunities to speak for more students and for growth in your position.

Why are you passionate about your job or role?

She enjoys helping youth kids, seeing people succeed with her advice, and it is fun, because she gets to communicate with many other people, and she feels joy when her advice helped many students to succeed. She doesn’t have to worry about being lonely or bored in this job because she can easily find students to talk to at any time.

What do you like and dislike about your job?

Getting to know the different jobs and making events/activities for students and youth children, she likes to get to know other people’s situations, and how each is doing in their life. She also likes to organize and be the leader of many events, because she has strong leadership and positivity.

She has no freedom, which she really dislikes since she also wants freedom for herself. and the system the school system provides, and she is sometimes disappointed that there is no growth in her position. She wishes that her work can get bigger, so she can work with other students from different schools, districts, and cities.

Why do you think you are good at this job? Strength and Weekends?

Strength: She is an excellent listener, and often the students feel free to share their problems. She always makes a great environment for students to feel comfortable. When listening, she can easily catch the main point/problem and she also gives great advice when someone’s struggling with a situation.

Weaknesses: She can get upset or frustrated easily, because she wants kids to have the mindset she does, and she sometimes has high expectations.

Personal Thoughts: Throughout this interview, I learned how to communicate with others, and Tara showed how to understand from a different perspectives, and how to understand other people’s situations. I really enjoyed this interview and I was happy to meet Tara again. This really interested my passions and interest more. Now I know how to archive this career, and what struggles I need to work on