Alumni Spotlight Archives - Page 2 of 2

Alumni Spotlight

The Importance of Having a Positive Impact

We caught up with Quest alum Xaviera Diaz, who loves her job with TD Bank Group in downtown Toronto.

Tell us a bit about what you do.

I’m the Enterprise Employee Experience consulting lead for the bank. I work as an internal consultant with different lines of business-building strategies for employee experience that are customized and aligned with their business strategies.

Why did you choose this career?

At Quest, I realized that for my career to be meaningful and fulfilling I’d need to have large-scale positive impact. Working in a big organization definitely provides that type of opportunity! I chose my role carefully. I get exposure to all types of businesses throughout TDBG, and the objective for the work I do is to create positive impact for the entire enterprise (85,000+ people), which is pretty unique!

What do you enjoy most about your job?

That no two days are the same! I have a bunch of projects on the go at all times. Some are long-term and will take more than six months, while others are only a couple of hours.

I like working in a lot of whitespace and maturing the work that we currently do by adding my own perspective and innovations. I have tons of exposure to business lines across the bank. The exposure is critical in helping me figure out what else I’m interested in, and what other spaces I may want to grow my career in the future. There are so many opportunities out there—one of the hardest parts is knowing where to look!

How do you feel Quest prepared you?

Taking one class at a time, but having three or four different deliverables due (presentations, essays, exams, etc.) very much mimics what my work is like today.

Quest helped me build confidence in my voice and perspective through round-table discussions and working with such diverse classmates. It’s important to speak up in order to add value, but also equally important to listen and create a space where everyone feels comfortable to have their voice heard. Quest taught me to be able to make informed decisions and take ownership for them.

Going through the Keystone process forces you to own your learning. I’ve found that my ability to make informed decisions with ownership adds a ton of value in the workplace–it’s definitely not something people are typically comfortable with.

Alumni Spotlight

Keeping Up With Quest Alumni

Brad Klees ’13, President of the Quest University Canada Alumni Association (QUCAA), tells us about the importance of staying in touch, and a recent initiative he’s really proud of.

You’re a Quest alum! What have you been up to since graduation?
I’ve been in constant motion since I graduated. I traveled to some 40 countries as an International Admissions Officer for Quest. I went to Armenia, where I worked at the United World College of Dilijan as a University Counsellor and building programs with local communities. Then I went to Ottawa for a contract at Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship as part of my Master’s degree. Quest opened all these doors for me, and I have really gotten to use the critical thinking skills I learned here.

You just launched a campaign to help alums with their career development. Tell us about that.
Older universities have alumni networks spanning decades, but the alumni community at Quest is still growing. The QUCAA was founded in 2017, and part of our goal is to harness the wealth of knowledge and connection within the Quest community to substitute for “senior” alumni.

Family members can sign up to become resources, so alumni can easily contact people in the professional or academic areas they want to pursue. We already have dozens of volunteers, and we hope this will translate into valuable advice and opportunities, whether alums are taking their first steps after graduation or are years into a career. If you’re interested in being part of this program, please email Alumni Representative.

Any recent initiatives to share?
We facilitated the nomination of the first alum on the Quest Board of Governors. This is a big step in the development of the Board and also towards increased recognition of the alumni voice in the university’s governance. Our last big goal for the inaugural year is to register as a not-for-profit.

What are some ways to support the QUCAA?
One great way is to take part in the family resource program above! We also just launched our inaugural Quest Alumni Scholarship Drive [http://www.questalumni.ca/fundraising/], which will provide scholarships to Quest students from the alumni community. I’m excited to be able to start some long-term planning and design this sort of program—I think it represents a turning point for alumni.

If you’re an alum out there, we hope you join QUCAA! Get in touch by emailing Alumni Representative. We also have a vibrant Facebook and Instagram community.

News

Andrew Luba ‘15 Wins Grant to Produce Environmental Documentary Series

Featured in the Squamish Chief:

Like any millennial worth his salt, Quest University grad Andrew Luba filmed and uploaded to Facebook the moment he discovered he won a $50,000 grant from Storyhive to produce an environmental documentary.

On the video, Luba scrolls through the online announcements looking for his in-production documentary Coextinction in the list of winners.

Upon seeing that the proposed doc — about the interconnected fate of the southern resident killer whale, chinook salmon, and humans on the west coast — had won, Luba’s face lit up with a huge grin. He shared the news with the camera and then jumped up and did an extended, freestyle dance.

It was a jubilant expression for the otherwise serious and thoughtful 20-something, who graduated from Quest in 2015.

Luba and his team will receive the funding to complete production of the pilot of what they hope will be a documentary series.

Out of almost 300 entries, Luba’s team was among 30 winners from western Canada.

“It really helps us take it to the next level,” said Luba about the funding. “The original plan was that this would be a 10-episode series.”

Previously, Luba and the team had crowd-funded to get the series started.

This latest cash injection allows them to make the first episode professional quality and Luba hopes that quality will draw further funding to continue the series “and make it into a bigger movement.”

The whole goal of the series is to engage people with the issue of the extinction of the southern resident killer whale — a very topical concern with the recent presumed death of young female whale J50. Her death leaves only 75 southern resident killer whales in existence.

“It hopefully won’t be an extinction, but the way things are going now it is headed down that road,” Luba said, adding that much is interconnected with the whales. “A big risk to the southern resident killer whale is the dwindling chinook salmon population, which of course relies on and is affected by various animals within the Salish Sea ecosystem.”

Humans are causing problems for these vulnerable animals because of “poor environmental decision-making,” Luba added.

“And humans will ultimately suffer if we lose these animals.”

Originally from Toronto, Luba said going to school in Squamish heightened his appreciation and interest in nature and protecting it.

“Growing up, going biking with my mom or my dad in the city, going into ravines, connecting to what nature there was… was a big influence,” he said. “But in Squamish, you are just in nature.”

Being recognized for his environmental concerns isn’t new to Luba.

In 2017 he was one of six finalists for the Lieutenant Governor’s Visionaries Prize for environmental stewardship. His submission was a proposal for EcoMeat, a meat-substitute, that Luba — a devoted vegetarian — believed could encourage more meat-lovers to give up eating animals, thus reducing green house gas emissions.

Luba’s Coextinction will be available to watch in spring of 2019 on Telus Optik TV/On Demand and on storyhive.com.

Alumni Spotlight

Making a Home at Quest

Barbara Batista Fernandes ’17, our Coordinator of New and International Student Services, offers some advice for current students, and shares why she decided to stay in Squamish after graduating.

As a student, what drew you to Quest?

My high school graduating class had just 15 students and the international program was only three years old when I joined. I wanted to go to a university where I would know all of my peers and professors, and be part of shaping its history.

What do you wish you would have known as an incoming student?

Don’t resist change. You will change, and your friends will change. Encourage yourself to do that and support others as they change too. Some of the friendships you will have on your first year might end and new ones will emerge. That is totally okay!

When you were a student at Quest, you were a member of the SRC. What was your role? And in what ways is the SRC important to the campus community?

I was the Minister of Internationalization. The SRC is one of the main avenues students have to shape their Quest experience, should it be by organizing an event on a topic that interests them, petitioning to get a new block offered at Quest, or pressuring Quest’s leadership to review and add to its policies. If I may add, the SRC provides students with the opportunity to learn when and how to work within the system and when to throw it out the window.

Describe what you do now at Quest.

I am part of the Student Life Team at Quest, supporting incoming and international students. I do anything from ordering health insurance (not the most glamourous), to helping students develop skills that will allow then to succeed at Quest and beyond (very rewarding!).

In what ways did your Quest education prepare you for the role you’re in now?

My role at Quest was in a lot of ways a logical step for me. I had always worked with international and incoming students for the four years that I was a student. The co-curricular and academic opportunities allowed me to develop a cross-cultural, critical thinking, inclusive mindset while working under tight deadlines and delivering high quality work. My Keystone project was about the future of education and investigated the ways we can re-shape education through an anti-oppression lens.

Of all the places to go in the entire world, what made you decide to stay at Quest post-grad?

I felt like I wasn’t ready to stop investing in this place. The number of ways I was involved in the Quest and Squamish community grew every year, and it seemed impossible to leave it all behind. I love the Quest community, I love Squamish, and the opportunity to work within the field I am passionate about was all right here.

Tell me a joke!

Well this is a hard one…most of the jokes I know are in Portuguese!

I heard this the other day: why is it hard to play cards in the jungle? Because there are too many cheetahs.

Staff Spotlight

In the Learning Commons with Anika

Anika Watson ’18, Q-Skills Program Coordinator and Learning Commons Assistant, explains why she’s back at Quest.

Why did you choose to attend Quest?

I have always loved learning and when I found Quest I was excited to discover a school that seemed to put a focus more on the process of learning than the goal of earning a degree.

Since I was nowhere near ready to commit to a major when I was looking into university, I liked the fact that Quest’s academic program would allow me to investigate a wide range of disciplines in both arts and sciences. I was attracted by the fact that students often work closely with faculty, seeming more like collaborators and less like numbers in the system. The Block Plan was also a big plus for me!

What was your Question and why?

My Question was, “How can analogical reasoning facilitate scientific inquiry?” I asked this question because I wanted to investigate the way apparently disparate phenomena can share a similar mathematical framework, and what that shared math can teach us about the phenomena under study. Another way to ask this would be, “In what ways is an atom like balls on a spring?”

What did you think of the Block Plan?

I loved it because it allowed me to immerse myself entirely in the subject at hand, without needing to put on the brakes and shift my focus to another discipline just because the clock decided that class was over. The one downside was that it was challenging to get through the reading lists in some classes. I can only read so many novels in a week!

Why did you choose to return to Quest after graduation and work in the Learning Commons?

To be honest, it was a tough decision because I was excited to begin graduate school. I decided to come back because I am very passionate about Q-Skills and I am thrilled to spend a year learning more about how we learn quantitative skills, and how I can best facilitate this learning.

I believe it’s important for citizens to be quantitatively literate in order to hold decision-makers accountable. For that reason, I like that all students complete Q-Skills, that there is a strong support system in place to help students succeed, and that it isn’t “for grades,” so students have a low-stakes warm-up for the Quantitative Reasoning that their classes will require.

What are your future plans/aspirations?

I plan to go to graduate school in Mathematics and Physics and apply what I’ve experienced at Quest to inspire learning wherever I go.

Alumni Spotlight

Ellie Vavrova ’18

Recent graduate Ellie tells us about her experience working with the Serbian National Women’s Basketball team, her favourite thing about Quest campus—and what she could do without.

What is your Question?

How do competitive sporting events impact society?

You just finished your Keystone on the Olympics related to the time you spent with the Serbian National Women’s Basketball team…well done! What was your role with the team?

Thank you! My presentation didn’t entirely relate to my Question because I was looking at the economic impacts of the Olympics on the host city and country, but it was interesting to be a part of the whole Olympic experience. I got to talk with the Serbian National Women’s Basketball team about competing in the 2016 Olympics for the first time…they won bronze!

It was just a wonderful experience. I translated for them, made their daily schedules and worked first-hand with their team manager. I attended all their practices and games, and made sure everything ran smoothly. Some of them even follow me on Instagram.

Do you plan to continue your work with the Olympics?

I would like to work with either the Olympics or specifically for FIBA [International Basketball Federation] in event management. It would be so awesome to connect with some of the world’s top athletes!

Why did you choose Quest?

I chose Quest for its uniqueness. The classes, people, campus—you really can’t find this combo anywhere else in the world.

What was your favourite thing about campus? Least favourite?

I loved that everything was so close. I could wake up at 8:45 am if I had class at 9. My least favourite was all the hills!

You just graduated! What’s the plan now?

I’m going to chill for a bit. I’m planning on taking a three-week road trip down the West Coast to Mexico.

Over the summer, I plan to get into some internships to do my Experiential Learning with other basketball teams. My goal is to work at the IWBA [International Wheelchair Basketball Association] World Championships in Hamburg, Germany.

And then I hope to go to grad school for sports event management.

Alumni Spotlight

Roz Groenewoud Qualifies for her Second Trip to the Olympics

Congratulations, previous Quest student and member of the Leaders in Elite Athletics and Performance Program (LEAP) Roz Groenewoud, for qualifying for her second trip to the Olympics.

Roz will be competing in the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang.

For more information, visit: https://www.olympic.org/pyeongchang-2018