A Misty New World

Have you ever had an urge to explore, understand the unknown, and see people and events that are just not common to the everyday?

Have you ever wanted to go see a whole new world full of people your age working towards a common good, or maybe even competing for a trophy?

Hundreds vs. Hundreds.

Student vs. Student.

This is isn’t the Hunger Games. This isn’t make believe.

If you happen to live in the United States or Canada then you have an opportunity to see this competition. You can even take part in this tournament if you like.

We all have our certain skills. Whether it be math, science, community activism, memorizing facts and, on Mibba, writing. Writing poems and stories and winning prizes for it; sounds pretty nice to me.

I am not endorsing this because of any other reason than it helped me have an awesome high school experience. It's a completely notforprofit organization full of older competitiers. I even volunteered when I was in university.

This competition is called Mist. You take part in competitions of your choice, there’s a sports day and you can win medals; sometimes even prizes. If you win in your geographical region, you and the other winners become a team and you move on to the international competition.

Last year’s international competition was insane. A swirl of activity. Eleven state teams came to Canada for the first Nationals’ competition in Canada. The best and the brightest came by buses, cars and airplanes to show their A game and win the Mist trophy.

Describing it to you is proving difficult, but if you are interested in seeing Mist, you do not even have to compete. You can come as a guest and watch the competitions unfurl. I highly suggest watching the Mist Bowl. It’s a trivia based competition where individuals memorize packages and put their memories to the test. Of course, there are buzzers, and this makes the whole event more exciting.

Teams come in matching colours and designs to show their spirit. You can watch short films and cheer on your favourite spoken word artists. This tournament has over 35 competitions. If you are an aspiring business student there is even a business case competition.

Armed with months of preparation, high school students all over North America come together to compete in this weekend long competition during March Break. On Monday the students are honoured with an Award Ceremony.

Sound interesting? Great, because it is. The basic requirements to compete are simply being a high school student. Judges for the competitions are professionals in the categories, so you even get an opportunity to speak with them and get real perspectives from your future career goals. If you are graduating before next year, then volunteer!

This is a great place to make friends, bond with your current buddies, and bring out your skills. I never knew how much I loved writing until I wrote a story for a Mist competition. Other competitors did spoken word for the first time and moved on to perform in different cities and win money. Some competitors took on so many competitions you could hear them walking from down the hall; their medals sparkling in the light. And some brave souls came alone to represent their schools and took home medals one year and brought a team with them the next!

And to tie all these competitions together there is a theme. This year’s is patience.

The beginnings of Mist came from the mind of an 18 year-old girl in the United States, and now it is a North American wide tournament that involves thousands of students.

The organizers are Facebook and Twitter friendly; you can even email them quite easily. If Mist is not in your state, province or school they can help you get started. Also, they are quite hilarous, after Mist Toronto won the Nationals competition last year the organizers took the trophy on a tour around the city. The trophy was eaten by zombies, saved by a scuba diver, wondering the night with the Dark Knight and even hanging out with Iron Man.

Overall, I encourage you to check it out. Everyone has a place at Mist. I hope you soon feel Mist-ified!

http://www.getmistified.com/