Throughout my high school career, I recognized the value of volunteer work and gained perspective into my community and career interests. By the age of 16, I had volunteered actively in my community by contributing to organizations such as the Victoria General Hospital, Victoria Public Library, James Bay Community News, Craigdarroch Castle, and the Victoria Film Festival. Upon graduation, I decided upon engineering as my field of study. There were many reasons for this, but the most important was that I wanted to use my technical skills overseas, helping to develop local communities. This passion led me to join Engineers Without Borders, where I participated as an active member, and was a successful candidate for their Junior Fellowship program. This program made me into a more developed individual, as it took me from the classroom to a rural community in northern Ghana, West Africa for four months developing and implementing data systems to bring evidence based planning to the district government.

Through the support of HPSC Health Policy and Strategies Consultants Inc., I am given the opportunity to go to other rural communities in the Yukon and Ukraine where I can use my background in engineering and volunteering to help me make a meaningful difference in people’s lives through compassion, excellence and service where it truly matters. With the Canada World Youth program I will be paired with a counterpart from the Ukraine, and we will work together providing leadership, building lasting relationships and contributing to rural communities in need.

“I am very grateful for the support that HPSC has given me as a Youth Leader in Action with Canada World Youth. HPSC’s goal to create societies free of marginalization aligns with the important work that I will be doing in the Yukon and the Ukraine helping isolated communities.”