Alumni Stories

Jacob completed his Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Computing at Queens University. While studying, he also worked as a researcher, developing software and image-guided therapy approaches for tumor resection. 

In 2012, while he was still at Queens, Jacob founded ThinkAkili, which provided data storage and integration solutions to a wide variety of non-digitally native businesses. The same year, Jacob also competed with a fellow student from Southridge, Khalid Karim, as part of Facebook‘s Global Hackathon competition. The app they created provided a more personalized shopping experience for consumers, and it won the competition, beating out teams from the USA, Canada, Brazil, England, and Mexico. 

In 2015, Jacob took a position at Snap Inc, the company behind Snapchat. He went on to become the Director of Growth two years later, and in 2018, he was promoted to Vice-President of Product, overseeing Design, Growth, Data Science, and Product Management across the whole of Snap Inc. In the last year, the value of the publicly traded Snap Inc. has increased by 300%.

“Solving large, novel, and unstructured problems is the part of my job where I spend the majority of my time,” Jacob says. “One of the primary frameworks I use today was built in Mr. Geddert’s physics class at Southridge: my first principles approach to problem solving. Refusing to inherit the decisions or biases of other people and companies, and instead focusing on the foundational rules in a new space, has proven to be a powerful tool in driving tech innovation, creative problem-solving, and business performance.”

Jacob adds that the best part of his job is getting to positively impact hundreds of millions of people around the world every day. “Bringing loved ones closer together through visual communication allows them to be even more expressive with their closest friends. When we do our job right, communicating using your phone becomes a little more human, something that seems to be missing from the vast majority of the consumer internet.”

Although Jacob now lives in California, he has never forgotten his Southridge roots. When the school basketball team travels there for tournaments, he always takes time to catch up with the players and coach, most recently, courtside at a Clippers game. 

The same year that Serena was elected Head Girl at Southridge, she also received a diagnosis of leukemia. Although she knew she faced months of intensive chemotherapy and treatment, Serena was determined to maintain her Head Girl duties and graduate on time with her class – even though her oncologist advised her that most students in her situation were home-schooled.

The day she was diagnosed, Serena started a blog about her experience that reached tens of thousands of people with messages of optimism and honesty over the three years she wrote it. As Head Girl, she initiated the first Relay for Life at Southridge and raised more than $25,000, and in 2014, she was among 25 students chosen to receive Coast Capital’s Standing Tall Award, as well as a Community Leader Award from The Surrey Leader newspaper.

Serena returns to Southridge every year to share her story. “The school community really helped my family and me to get through that year. Teachers went out of their way to make sure I graduated on time. Other parents delivered meals to our house once a week and left messages of support – my mom still talks about that. At Halloween, a group of teachers dressed up, and each one had a letter on their shirt. When they stood together it spelled out ‘Breeding Optimism’, the name of my blog.”

In March 2019, after celebrating more than three years of being cancer-free, Serena was selected as one of 11 youth cancer survivors to ascend a mountain in Quebec with a therapeutic support team. With an elevation gain of nearly 950 metres, reaching the top was a powerful accomplishment. Barely six years earlier, Serena had been unable to climb the stairs of her home without becoming winded.

Currently, Serena is pursuing a degree in Communications at Simon Fraser University. A gifted speaker, she gives motivational speeches on behalf of the Canadian Cancer Society, and works in a consulting role with BC Parks and other organizations on sustainability and climate change. In January, she will use a grant from SFU to volunteer in India, working with an underdeveloped community to find sustainable economic solutions.

In January 2017, a blood vessel ruptured in Andrew’s spinal canal leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. He was told he’d never walk again, but over a four-month period at GF Strong Rehab Centre he fought to stand again, take his first steps, and finally walk on his own. Eight months after his injury, Andrew ran a half marathon.

“The injury was the best and worst thing that’s happened in my life,” Andrew says. “In a lot of ways, it’s like going to your own funeral, with people from all chapters of your life showing up with so much love and support. It’s an experience that has left me with an endless debt of gratitude.”

Andrew’s previous career as an athlete helped him in his recovery. From 2004-2012 he travelled the globe, competing professionally in slopestyle mountain bike competitions; he was trained to break down difficult tasks into manageable steps. “If I had focused on walking right away, I would have been overwhelmed. Instead, I worked on moving my toes, then my ankles, then on putting weight on my feet...”

It has become Andrew’s mission to give back: as an ambassador for Wings For Life, the leading global contributor to spinal cord research, as a team captain in the organization’s annual fundraising run, and by supporting other spinal cord injury patients and their families.

 “When I first meet someone with a spinal cord injury, it’s about sharing the gratitude mindset and getting them to celebrate the small wins,” Andrew explains. “You want to manage expectations for the future, but also prepare someone to fight their way out of the worst dream of their lives, one day at a time. Progress is never fast – it’s literally millimeters a day, if that – but that millimeter can give them the ability to have independence in daily life.”

Currently, Andrew works as a Global Brand Manager for lululemon. He looks back at the Media Arts program at Southridge as his first training ground, where he developed a passion for visual storytelling, “The school gave us a good grounding in academics, but it also gave us opportunities to explore new things. It gave me an appetite to work in a relatively new field, connecting with people in new ways.”

In the summer of 2018, Krittika worked for the United Nations in Indonesia on the Global Pulse team, using technology to support policy efforts. That experience inspired her to pursue a career in artificial intelligence and public policy and she is currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science at the University of Cambridge on a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. “Canada has become a global leader in AI and one of the things I hope to do in the future is work in public policy to help us govern its use and growth.”  

Krittika’s current research focuses on spatio-temporal urban mobility modelling, using social media and transport data to predict changes in cities over time. “In the future,” Krittika says, “technology will play a larger role in development efforts worldwide – I'd love to support this work using my background in technology.”

In 2019, Krittika was named one of ten “Rising Stars in Networking and Communications”, joining nine other women from universities around the world, and she won the Youth Award at RBC’s Top 25 Canadian Immigrants Awards. An internship at NASA, building artificial intelligence (AI) models to simulate medical conditions that affect astronauts, was just one of the reasons she won the awards.

As an undergraduate at the University of Washington, Krittika received a double degree in Bioengineering and Computer Engineering. She worked in three research labs, where she designed devices to improve prosthetic sockets for individuals with lower limb amputations, built software for low-resource settings, and researched ways to use DNA molecules for long-term data storage.

Krittika echoes many grads when she says that Southridge not only prepared her for university academically, but taught her the value of being a well-rounded person. “I built passions outside of the classroom – in particular, Outdoor Education. I was the Outdoor Education Steward while I was at Southridge, and I love to hike, backpack, and visit national parks to this day. At Cambridge, I play on the University Real Tennis Team – it’s an older version of lawn tennis and last year I was captain of the Women’s 2^nds Team!”

Sally is one of a small number of pediatric plastic surgeons in BC. “Initially, I was drawn to plastic surgery,” she says, “because of the artistic element. It combined two of my high school passions: Science and Fine Arts. While I had key mentors who inspired me to pursue pediatric plastic surgery, in the end, it was the impact this work has on a patient’s psychosocial well-being that drew me in.”

 “In pediatric plastic surgery, I have the privilege of caring for, and getting to know, patients and their families over a period from birth to adulthood,” she adds, “as many of the conditions require staged surgeries carried out at different times in one’s childhood.”

Sally earned her M.D. at Queen’s University in 2007, after which, she pursued a residency in Plastic Surgery at the University of BC, followed by a fellowship in pediatric plastic surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. “Southridge really prepared me for university, which gave me the confidence to apply to medical school. But equally important, the school taught me tenacity. It was Mr. Brown who showed me that if something didn’t work out the first time, I didn’t have to accept it, I could continue working towards my goal.”

After completing her fellowship in Toronto, and working as a locum at BC Children’s Hospital, Sally moved with her family to Switzerland for four years. There, she received additional training in cleft lip and palate surgery before joining the team at the Kinderspital Zürich as a clinical research physician.

In 2017, Sally returned to Canada and BC Children’s Hospital, where she runs an active surgical practice, teaches as a Clinical Instructor in the UBC Faculty of Medicine, and conducts research in burns, skin substitutes, and brachial plexus palsy. “One of the messages I still carry with me from Southridge, is that everyone has value and deserves respect, and that one’s value cannot be determined by what we see on the outside.”

Amit is a General Surgeon, en route to becoming a double-board-certified Surgeon in both General Surgery and Vascular Surgery. On completing a biochemistry degree at the University of British Columbia, he completed medical school abroad and began his residency in General Surgery. Amit completed his first two years of General Surgery training at the University of Washington in Seattle, and finished his five-year residency at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

“I was inspired to choose a career in medicine after undergoing three operations before the age of 15. I saw, first-hand, what a difference it made to individual lives – after my last procedure I never thought I’d play sports again, but I’m still playing competitive ice hockey to this day!”

Amit is currently completing a two-year fellowship in Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, where he is the only resident to be nominated in consecutive years for the faculty teaching award in Surgery. Amit is currently working on a paper comparing the outcomes of endovascular reinterventions on both open and endovascular repairs of the aorta, and he recently presented two papers at the American College of Surgeons meeting in Missouri.

When he completes his fellowship next year, Amit will become a double-board-certified Surgeon. “Southridge gave me the foundation to be as successful as I have been,” Amit says. “The work ethic instilled in secondary school has been essential to becoming a surgeon, but the other important thing I learned was that I needed to be well-rounded. At Southridge, I was part of every sports team, including basketball, soccer, rugby and golf – all while being enrolled in every advanced placement course available.”

Amit also credits his success to an important relationship he developed at Southridge. “I started dating my wife, who was also a student at Southridge, when I was 16. Without her constant guidance and support, there is no way I would have become a surgeon. She’s an operating room nurse at Saint Louis University and has completed many surgeries with me. When we got married last year,” he adds, “we came back to Southridge to take pictures!”

Emily’s chosen career path in the non-profit and social enterprise space began when she joined ME to WE as a trips facilitator in Kenya, after earning her BComm from Queen’s University. She worked in Kenya for three years in various roles supporting the East Africa team and Trips programs, as well as ME to WE Artisans, a program supporting income-generating activities for hundreds of women.

“My parents instilled a sense of social responsibility and empathy in me from when I was young,” she explains “Southridge fostered that, providing space and opportunities for me to lead service activities and explore my interests in international development in the classroom.”

In 2013, Emily obtained her Masters in International Studies from Simon Fraser University and then returned to ME to WE, progressing from Manager of Special Projects to Head of International Programs for WE Charity.

One of her greatest achievements was overseeing the launch of a new partnership with imagine1day, an organization founded by Chip and Shannon Wilson to support education in Ethiopia. Emily helped to steward the relationship, build out project plans, and support the team on the ground to ensure the success of the partnership and program.

“Over my career, I have been fortunate to work in jobs where I am often close enough to see the impact we are making. I have been able to work with incredibly passionate and talented colleagues at WE, and within the communities we work with.  It has really been all about connecting with people.”

In 2019, Emily accepted a new position at the University of British Columbia as Director of Global Partnerships in the Vice-Provost International Office. “After 10 years in the charitable and social enterprise space, I see this role at UBC as an exciting opportunity to learn and make an impact in a different sphere.  Joining UBC at the time of a new international strategy, where forging partnerships for impact is a major focus, presents both an exciting challenge and opportunity to bring my experience to a new role.”

Emily is the co-founding Director of Rivers to Ridges, an outdoor education social enterprise in the Yukon that has reached more than 700 young people with land-based programs and training. Elders, trappers, knowledge keepers, and other specialists enrich the program, sharing First Nations culture and perspectives.

In 2017, Rivers to Ridges became a laureate of the Arctic Inspiration Prize, which is awarded to innovative projects that inspire change and improve the lives of people living in Canada's North. The team received $100,000 to open an outdoor-based preschool, The Nest Forest School, in Whitehorse. “The research is very clear,” Emily says, “that children need significant amounts of time outdoors engaged in open, exploratory play. That connection to the natural world is crucial for healthy bodies, minds and hearts.”

“I also believe that when we deepen our relationship with the land,” she adds, “we build empathy, awareness and community. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve felt at my best when I’m outside. It’s the heart of my inspiration, motivation and healing.”

The prize money will also allow Rivers to Ridges to provide educator training and mentorship, building capacity for outdoor learning opportunities for children across the Territory. “I wouldn’t be doing what I do today, if I hadn’t gone to Southridge,” Emily says. “It was my first exposure to a community of peers who were passionate about volunteering and who cared about issues in the world. The school was very supportive of my relationship with ME to WE, and one of the organization’s motivational speakers, Joe Opatowski, had a big impact on me before he passed away.”

Emily holds a BEd in Indigenous Perspectives from Simon Fraser University, and a BA in Geography (Environment and Sustainability) from the University of BC. She has worked as an international youth leadership trip facilitator in rural Kenya and Ecuador, canoe and backpacking out-trip director, motivational speaker with Free the Children, native plant researcher, and classroom teacher.

Recently, she trained at The Tracker School in New Jersey in survival skills and tracking. Emily’s big passion is ethnobotany, which she pursues through traditional willow basket-weaving, harvesting and blending herbal teas, and making medicinal salves. 

Hugh’s scientific passion for space exploration has led him to a career as a senior advanced systems engineer with Honeywell Aerospace in Ottawa, where he researches and develops advanced technologies for space exploration. Late last year he completed his PhD in Physics at York University, with a focus on the use of photonic integrated circuits – scientific instruments that can be printed on miniature chips – for space exploration.

Hugh recently received a patent for his PhD research, designing an on-chip, high-precision sensor that can be used to analyze the chemistry of the surface of Mars in order to search for environments that may once have supported life.

The team that Hugh works with at Honeywell has created scientific instruments for the International Space Station and the James Webb Space Telescope. Hugh is now leading the development of a quantum satellite instrument that will enable un-hackable communications secured by quantum physics. “My ultimate goal,” he says, “is to lead missions that will explore deep space and contribute to our understanding of the solar system and our place within it.”

After graduating from Southridge, Hugh received a BSc in Physics from McGill University, where he also worked as a student researcher in astronomy at the Canadian Space Agency. He then moved into space engineering to pursue more hands-on research via an MSc in Space Science and Engineering from York University. “Southridge prepared me for the exam-heavy academic environment that I encountered all through university – I had study skills and plenty of practice, and that helped with the stress,” he explains.

At York, Hugh volunteered as a radio host for York Universe, a space and astronomy-focused radio show reaching 30,000 listeners weekly. In his spare time Hugh served as captain and coach of the McGill Quidditch team, and later coached and captained Team Canada Quidditch.

“Despite the heavy workload at university, I expected to get involved in a wide range of activities because of the focus on extra-curriculars at Southridge,” Hugh says. “The support I received from teachers and coaches at the school gave me the confidence to develop some oddball hobbies that others might consider ridiculous – and made me a much more well-rounded person!”

Prem was awarded a full scholarship to Western University, where he earned a double major in Chemistry, and the School for Advanced Studies in Arts and Humanities (SASAH). The SASAH program intrigued Prem, because it invited broad philosophical discussion within an interdisciplinary framework, and fed his passion for storytelling about culture, social issues, technology, and science.

“Stories are tools through which people can connect and learn from each other,” Prem says. “Some of the most profound lessons I’ve learned have come from incredibly moving, well-written stories and, in my opinion, the most interesting stories and experiences come from the place where disciplines blur together – that’s where unique connections are made.  Southridge really promoted that kind of thinking – we were encouraged to participate in everything!”

Currently, Prem writes about pop culture and media for LaineyGossip.com, and works as a marketing co-ordinator for WELL Health Technologies, a healthcare and technology start-up based in Vancouver.

While at Western, Prem spent four summers working as a student researcher, supervisor, and promoter of the Vindolanda Trust, an archeological site in Northern England renowned for its unique collection of well-preserved Roman artifacts. He was part of a team that built a museum database to catalogue the vast collection of more than 9,000 leather artifacts found at the site.

Prem also volunteered for Radio Western and placed in the top 5% of a Khan Academy contest with an educational video he scripted, filmed, and produced. Western has recognized Prem as a remarkable alumnus and features him as an ambassador for the school on their website.

Currently, Prem volunteers as a teacher and board secretary for the Chinmaya Mission Vancouver, a worldwide, charitable organization that promotes and supports education around Hindu culture and philosophy. “The desire to help other people has been part of me from a really young age,” he says. “One of my most rewarding experiences was with Semiahmoo House. I volunteered there during Service Week at Southridge and ended up staying as a volunteer for the rest of high school. There are still friendships I treasure from those days.”

Josh is a PhD student in Lunar Mineral Processing at Imperial College London, where his research is funded by an Industrial Fellowship grant through the Fonds National de la Recherche in Luxembourg and ispace Inc, a Japanese lunar exploration company. Recently, Josh was also awarded a Post-Graduate Doctoral scholarship for his research from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

 “Many of the technologies we use and depend on in our daily lives are spin-offs from the space sector,” Josh says. “While my ambition is to develop technologies that will allow humans to live beyond Earth, my hope is that my work will have a positive impact on Earth as well.”

He illustrates with an example, “My current research focuses on the development of technologies to enrich minerals on the Moon. Because the Moon doesn’t have lots of flowing water that we can use to separate minerals (like mining companies do on Earth), we have to develop new, waterless techniques. If these can be used on Earth, it would drastically reduce, and possibly eliminate, the annual consumption of hundreds of millions of tons of water by terrestrial mining companies.”

Josh began to look for an opportunity to transition into the space industry while he was earning his Master of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Waterloo. He received a scholarship from the European Space Agency to the International Space University in France, where he completed an intensive one-year Master of Science in Space Studies and was hired by ispace – first as an intern, and then as a full-time employee. Currently, Josh is the Lunar Mining Research Engineer at ispace Europe.

 “The rigour of the education I received at Southridge, and the work ethic I developed, were hugely formative in my attitude towards education,” Josh says. “The overall culture of striving for excellence really stuck with me. It was a competitive environment, with so many bright, creative people,” he adds, “but the ethos of Omnis Anima Volet made it a safe environment in which to take risks, build my confidence, and try new things – and that helped me to branch out and try new things when I went to university.”

Albert is a talented cellist who studied at the VSO School of Music the summer after he graduated from Southridge, before heading to Philadelphia to study at the renowned Curtis Institute of Music – where he studies with Carter Brey, principal cello of the New York Philharmonic, and Peter Wiley, former cellist of the Guarneri Quartet. When he is home in Vancouver, he continues to study with the Borealis Quartet’s Lim Sungyong.

While still a student at Southridge, Albert was chosen as a finalist at the 2015 Johansen International Competition for Young String Players, and as a semi-finalist at the Stulberg International String Competition, where he also won the Bach Award. The year he graduated, he won the senior division of the VSO School of Music Future of Excellence Competition, gaining the chance to perform as a soloist in concert with the VSO. During that year, he also found time to pay it forward with two concerts that raised money for Operation Smile and the Kenya Foundation Aiding Children Through Education (KFACE).

Albert speaks of his time at Southridge fondly. “One of the many defining features that I am grateful for, was how inclusive the community was. Southridge created an environment where I was able to do what I wanted and still come to school feeling like I belonged with my peers.”

Albert plays a rare 1702 Giovanni Grancino cello on loan from the Canada Council Musical Instrument Bank. (Every three years, Canadian professional musicians can compete to borrow one of the Bank’s twenty instruments.) While he continues to achieve success – last November, Albert was a semi-finalist for the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Compétition – he recognizes that his goal of making a difference through his art is a life-long study and pursuit. “My job as an artist is to be available, to perform with the goal of creating pure and meaningful music that leaves the listener with an experience they can incorporate into their lives. The ability to open listeners to this sort of spiritual adventure is a life-long study that develops and matures over countless years of practicing one’s craft.”

Aquil is a self-taught artist who uses his work as a tool for social change. He has been called “the people’s artist” both for his socially-conscious work and for the public participation his projects invite, facilitating opportunities for others to speak and be heard.  His desire to communicate socially-relevant ideas in an accessible, interactive, and engaging way is summed up in one of his favourite phrases, “nothing about us, without us.”  

After graduating from Southridge, Aquil was accepted to Emily Carr University, but chose instead to pursue Philosophy and Marketing at McGill University after being awarded the prestigious J.W. McConnell Major Scholarship. He launched his artistic career while he was still a student, creating pieces for clients as diverse as the Toronto Symphony, the Ottawa Senators, the Canadian Museum of Immigration, Special Olympics Canada, TEDxMontreal, and Ronald McDonald House.

For Canada Day 2016, Aquil created Canada’s Self Portrait[B1] , an award-winning collaborative art project about “who we are and what we stand for as Canadians.” More than 800 participants from across the country filled out a one-page worksheet that included a quick drawing about Canadian identity. The sketches were reproduced and integrated into a larger artwork that was exhibited at the Canadian Museum of Immigration in Halifax. In 2018, he received the Artist for Peace Award from the Quebec-based artist collective, Les Artistes Pour La Paix.

Aquil’s recent work, such as the CelebrateHer[B2]  series, uses fine art portraiture as a way to uplift marginalized communities, and those who endure and combat systemic issues such as sexism, racism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and transphobia. “My art is guided by three main pillars: community impact, social relevance, and responsible representation,” he says. “I believe in depicting real people as often as possible; my portraits are as much political statements as they are gifts to everyday people.”

Currently based in Tkaronto (Toronto) and Tio’tia:ke (Montreal), Aquil is working on a series of commemorative portraits of the six men who were killed at the Quebec City mosque shooting. He plans to exhibit the paintings at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec before gifting them to the widows and their families.

 [B1]Link to http://aquil.ca/canadas-self-portrait/

 [B2]Link to http://aquil.ca/celebrateher/