Aminah Anjum
Aminah Anjum | Economics Honourable Mention, 2025 Co-op Student of the Year
“One of the most valuable things I carried during my co-op term at Sistema Toronto was not my laptop or my notebook,” says Aminah Anjum, “but a stack of survey papers smudged with pencil marks, tiny fingerprints, and the faint smell of polished wood floors from elementary school gymnasiums across the GTA.”
These pieces of paper looked ordinary but to Aminah, they “told stories of access, confidence, and possibility - and it became my responsibility to listen to them carefully.”
As an international student and a recipient of York University’s prestigious Presidents’ International Scholarship of Excellence, Aminah has built her academic journey around a belief she has held since childhood: that education is a powerful tool for dignity, opportunity, and social mobility. That conviction led her to study economics and to recently pursue a four-month co-op role at a non-profit organization providing free music education to children in underserved communities across the Greater Toronto Area.
In her role as a Fundraising and Marketing Assistant, Aminah recalls mornings spent synthesizing survey data in Excel were often followed by afternoons helping children rehearse, setting up classrooms, or transporting musical instruments. During her work term she visited seven schools across GTA neighbourhoods including Jane and Finch, Yorkwoods and Scarborough. She helped administer and analyze program surveys while observing the environments that shaped student experiences. This on-the-ground proximity, she noted, helped her anchor her analytical work in lived context.
Drawing on her background in economics and statistics, Aminah synthesized the survey findings into a comprehensive Impact Report designed to support fundraising and communications goals. Her insights informed internal presentations and were adapted into social media content, strengthening the organization’s ability to articulate its impact to donors and stakeholders.
Aminah also conducted market research in support of fundraising and identified grant opportunities that opened two successful funding leads. She executed a full-cycle digital media campaign in support of the Summer Music Camp Fundraising initiative, helping the organization raise $15,000 ahead of its deadline.
"This co-op profoundly shaped my personal, academic and professional development. It reinforced my passion for data-driven decision-making rooted in human impact."
For Aminah, seeking any opportunity to learn, grow and expand her skills was as formative as it was rewarding.
“This co-op profoundly shaped my personal, academic and professional development,” she says. “Over time, I learned to write professional media releases, liaise confidently with external stakeholders in the political and nonprofit landscape, and represent Sistema Toronto with care and clarity.”
The role also helped her draw connections to her academic foundation gained through York’s Economics program.
“Academically, my co-op experience deepened my understanding of how economic analysis functions in real-world, resource-constrained environments,” she says. “It reinforced my passion for data-driven decision-making rooted in human impact.”
Karl Furtado
Karl Furtado | Juris Doctor Honourable Mention, 2025 Work-Integrated Learning Student of the Year
“It’s common for kids to be told ‘you’ll make a great lawyer one day,’” laughs JD student Karl Furtado. “I was one of those kids. Loquacious, argumentative, and singularly focused on what’s right. Inequity bothered me deeply.”
What began as a childhood passion for justice has since evolved into a deep commitment to client centred advocacy. Today, as a Juris Doctor candidate at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, Karl is recognized for his outstanding contributions as a Division Leader at Osgoode’s Community and Legal Aid Services Program (CLASP). CLASP operates as a community rooted legal clinic that serves vulnerable and marginalized clients including survivors of violence, individuals experiencing mental health challenges and those with housing insecurity.
In his role working in CLASP’s Immigration Division as part of the JD’s Clinical Education Program, Karl worked on complex legal cases like humanitarian applications, refugee claims and judicial reviews. He played a pivotal role in achieving life changing outcomes for vulnerable clients, including a successful judicial review that enabled a persecuted individual to remain safely in Canada.
Karl’s commitment to access, dignity and justice extend beyond his case load. During his time at CLASP he became an active presence in the community, volunteering with Homeless Connect, a non-profit that connects individuals with essential services including legal aid. He led outreach initiatives in some of Toronto’s most marginalized neighbourhoods, supporting individuals facing systemic barriers in obtaining identification, accessing social services, and navigating legal processes.
Within the clinic, Karl’s impact was equally meaningful. He helped foster a collaborative and inclusive environment, initiating team building traditions and supporting volunteer students in developing their own legal skills.
"I found my people and rekindled my love for the law."
“For me, it’s about people,” he says simply. “In law school, there is a lot of abstraction about justice and the law and tradition and precedent - sometimes people get lost in the mix. I really enjoy finding out about the people that I go to school with and share time with at the office.”
In addition to re-affirming his sense of purpose and inspiration, Karl’s work-integrated learning experience helped him gain comprehensive experience in client management, legal research, drafting, courtroom advocacy, and community legal education, all while deepening his understanding of the systemic inequities affecting marginalized clients.
Karl has solidified his passion for law and strengthened his commitment to serving both his school and the broader community with connection, humanity and purpose. “CLASP very much redeemed my sense of who I was.”
His experience embodies the core value of clinical legal education: providing students with direct responsibility for real client matters while instilling the professional practices, ethical grounding and skills essential for effective legal practice. Karl’s ability to engage diverse communities with cultural sensitivity, patience, and empathy reflects his deep dedication to client-centred advocacy. His contributions have left a lasting impact on his clients, colleagues and community.
Raha Golsorkhi
Raha Golsorkhi | Software Engineering Honourable Mention, 2025 Co-op Student of the Year
“Co-op didn’t just introduce me to the workplace; it transformed how I understood my potential as a Software Engineering student” says Raha Golsorkhi.
An international student from Iran, she had always been drawn to mathematics, analytics, problem-solving, and the logic of debugging complex systems. When she arrived in Toronto to begin her Engineering studies, Raha quickly recognized that co-op offered a powerful way to channel those passions into real-world experience, transforming theoretical knowledge into practical impact.
Approaching the co-op process with clarity and determination, Raha’s preparation and sustained effort led to nine interviews and multiple offers. One of those offers turned into her next opportunity, as a Junior Developer at Ontario Public Service’s Children, Community and Social Services department. Raha quickly applied herself to the job which required supporting the development and maintenance of enterprise letters and forms for the Family Responsibility Office for the province.
Quickly, her curiosity and initiative carried her beyond the boundaries of her original role. What started with Oracle Analytics Publisher soon expanded into Siebel CRM configuration, OpenSearch log analysis, and cross-system integrations. With each new challenge, she moved steadily from being an observer to a confident contributor, taking ownership of production-ready tasks and building trust within her team.
"Seeing my work deployed and used in real workflows was deeply motivating and reinforced my sense of responsibility as a developer."
Raha remembers diligently keeping notes on every concept she learned on the job, tracking how she applied her growing skills across quarterly releases. This practice not only accelerated her learning but also helped her become a reliable presence during high-pressure release cycles.
As her abilities grew, Raha was entrusted with increasingly complex configuration work including validation rules and business components – responsibilities that are typically handled by specialized developers. Her contributions helped streamline delivery timelines and strengthen integration points. She is acknowledged by her supervisor for exceeding expectations, learning rapidly and delivering production-level code, in an incredibly successful co-op term.
“Raha's proactive approach not only enhanced her capabilities but also positioned her to support a broader range of development activities within our team,” says Roy Asaria, Manager Development and Maintenance. “Her willingness to go beyond assigned duties exemplified her commitment to continuous improvement and added significant value to our organization.”
Raha is proud of the efficiency she brought to her colleagues and the impact she made in a short time. “This experience was deeply enriching,” she says. “Working in a production grade, government enterprise environment allowed me to apply concepts from my Software Engineering program to real-world systems.”
By the end of her term, she had not only strengthened her own skills but also reinforced the strong reputation of York’s co-op program, demonstrating professionalism, adaptability, and a genuine commitment to building reliable, meaningful software.
“Seeing my work deployed and used in real workflows was deeply motivating and reinforced my sense of responsibility as a developer.”
Ginny An
Ginny An | French Studies & History, Concurrent Education Honourable Mention, 2025 Work-Integrated Learning Student of the Year
When Ginny An was a French immersion student in high school, she recalls “all my teachers raved about the Glendon Campus at York.” Once she realized that she had a passion for education, she knew that the close-knit, multilingual campus, global exchange opportunities and access to a French teaching placement made Glendon the right choice. “If you want to become a teacher, Glendon is the spot to be,” she says.
Today, having recently graduated with an Honours International Bachelor of Arts in French Studies and History, Ginny is completing her Bachelor of Education and making impact as a community leader and educator.
In her Winter and Summer 2025 terms, Ginny had the chance to work in a unique practicum placement role as an Outdoor Program Specialist at the Toronto French School (TFS). The opportunity excited her, while also presenting a new challenge - as it meant taking on a leadership role in a new subject area.Ginny found herself leading curriculum-aligned outdoor lessons on topics such as mapping, stream studies, and life cycles, while also developing lesson plans and instructional materials for students in grades 2 through 5.
“In the beginning, I felt so much imposter syndrome as a non-STEM student,” she recalls. She drew upon her experience as a research assistant in natural history with a Natural History professor, and elective courses she took about Health and Environment. This unique choice gave Ginny information about the Don River, which the Toronto French School backs onto. She embedded her knowledge about the river and watershed into her position.
"Working as an Outdoor Program Specialist taught me a variety of skills that I would not have learned from a traditional academic lecture."
Beyond her formal responsibilities, Ginny continually sought opportunities to support the school community, volunteering for recess duty, contributing to after-school care, and assisting with the school’s weekly Plant Club. This is where one of her most transformative projects took shape: she initiated a collaborative garden revitalization project between TFS and the Lunik Cooperative at Glendon College, where Ginny had previously served as General Environment Coordinator.
Working alongside grade 3 students, she helped plan which fruits and vegetables to grow, with the shared goal of providing healthy snacks for university students at Glendon. Ginny describes it as a defining moment in her experiential learning journey. “Through this project, I demonstrated my ability to think critically, problem-solve, and lead a team to implement a tangible, sustainable initiative. I hope that next year’s General Environment Coordinator will take on this initiative as well.”
Ginny has embraced her role supporting new Glendon students and promotes Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) through campus events and media. Her commitment to community involvement is also reflected in her role as the Senior Academic Coordinator for Glendon’s World University Service of Canada (WUSC) chapter, where she supports Student Refugee Program participants.
Reflecting on her professional growth, Ginny notes, “Working as an Outdoor Program Specialist taught me a variety of skills that I would not have learned from a traditional academic lecture. I am also very grateful for my supervisors at TFS, and I would not be where I am today without them.”
Across all her initiatives, Ginny has demonstrated a deep commitment to experiential education, environmental stewardship, and community building - qualities that continue to shape her path as an emerging educator.
This summer, Ginny will be going on an exchange semester to Freiburg, Germany. She is one of the six students that have been selected from the Faculty of Education at York University to participate in this cultural experience. In addition, she has been awarded the Baden-Württemberg-STIPENDIUM, a prestigious scholarship by the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung that supports university students and young professionals.
Mia Soccio
Mia Soccio | History Honourable Mention, 2025 Work-Integrated Learning Student of the Year
Where sport meets storytelling: Mia combined a love of hockey and history into a digital archive that brings the game’s past to life.
Mia Soccio is a graduate of York University’s BA History program and Public History Certificate, now pursuing her MA in History at York. During her undergraduate studies, she discovered the perfect intersection of her interests in sport and history by completing a 120-hour Curatorial Placement at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Over the course of her 12 week placement in Winter 2025, she stepped directly into the world of public history. Collaborating with both the curatorial and digital development teams, she helped develop a series of interactive digital experiences designed to deepen visitor engagement. Mia contributed to the brainstorming and refinement of ideas ranging from app based games to themed museum tours, each crafted to bring the institution’s rich hockey history to life in new ways.
Her efforts helped shape a mobile museum experience - a suite of digital features that include scavenger hunts and immersive tours, inviting visitors to explore pivotal events in hockey history. Mia saw firsthand how digital tools can transform the way audiences interact with museum collections, and how technology can modernize historical storytelling for a new generation of visitors.
"My placement significantly shaped my personal, academic, and professional development. This role allowed me to experience history in practice."
She also undertook more advanced interpretive work through a reassessment of the Formative Years of Hockey exhibition. Drawing on her academic training in public history, she reviewed existing text panels using historiographical analysis to verify historical accuracy. Her most impactful contribution was identifying and resolving an inconsistency in the recorded number of teams in the 1886 Kingston hockey league. After presenting comparative research using primary and secondary sources, her recommended revisions were approved and permanently integrated into the exhibition.
“My placement allowed me to experience history in practice,” says Mia. “I saw how evolving scholarship reshapes public interpretation and reinforces the responsibility museums carry when presenting the past.”
Inspired by her experience working at the intersection of sport heritage and public history, Mia is actively continuing her scholarship and public history initiatives. She is excited to present this summer at the Canadian Historical Association Conference in Charlottetown, PEI. Her talk will examine ways that digital tools can modernize museum collections and transform visitor interaction.
Anjani Nithiraajah
Anjani Nithiraajah | Health Policy, Management & Digital Health
A hospital patient’s experience extends far beyond tests and treatment. It’s shaped by safety, education, policies and systems working to support patient outcomes behind the scenes. For Anjani Nithiraajah, discovering this broader view of patient care sparked her passion for quality improvement and inspired her to pursue a practicum placement.
As part of York University’s HLST 4990 Health Policy & Management Practicum, Anjani gained hands-on experience working in a hospital’s quality improvement team to analyze patient care metrics and work on enhancing safety. During her 250-hour placement with the Quality and Patient Relations department at Scarborough Health Network General Hospital, she demonstrated professionalism, initiative, and a strong collaborative spirit - qualities that earned her recognition from her program.
Anjani’s interest in health policy began in high school. “I knew I wanted to do something in healthcare,” she recalls. “While I wanted to impact patient experience in my work, I wasn’t keen on patient facing roles.” Her research led her to York University’s Specialized Honours BHS in Health Policy, Management, and Digital Health, where she chose the Health Management stream for its blend of non clinical healthcare and business.
The opportunity to complete a fourth year practicum was a deciding factor for her: “I saw that a practicum was offered, and though it wasn’t a requirement for my program, I was excited for the practical experience and connections it would give me.”
"Through practicum I built my confidence, organizational skills, and ability to meet timelines. I’m grateful to use those skills every day in my current role."
When she began work as a Quality Improvement Practicum Student at Scarborough Health Network Anjani worked closely with a Quality Improvement Facilitator and played a key role in co-leading a Fall Prevention pilot project aimed at reducing in-patient falls among moderate to high-risk patients in the medicine unit. The initiative involved partnering with volunteers, conducting one on one patient consultations and helping to develop scenarios for fall prevention education videos.
“The pilot was a really interesting and interdisciplinary experience,” she says. “I coordinated with the charge nurse, the unit manager, the nurse educator, volunteers and patients.”
Anjani highlights the impact and guidance of her supervisor, a Quality Improvement Facilitator she shadowed throughout the practicum. “She helped support me with the project and coached me on how to approach and execute each task,” she shares. With her supervisor’s encouragement, Anjani gradually took on more responsibility, eventually leading weekly core team meetings and building presentations with confidence. This mentorship not only strengthened her project management abilities but also helped her feel supported in a fast paced hospital environment. Eventually Anjani had the chance to prepare two literature reviews and confidently present her findings to the Fall Prevention Committee.
Carrying these experiences and confidence forward, Anjani’s practicum experience supported her transition into employment after graduating her program. She now works full-time at Southlake Health as a Patient Relations Associate, where she uses the skills developed in her placement.
“Through my practicum I built my confidence, organizational skills, and ability to meet timelines. I’m grateful to use those skills every day in my current role.”
Most impactfully, Anjani’s practicum reminded her that behind every positive patient experience is a complex network of quality and safety practices, supported by health policy and quality improvement.
Prima Corindia
Prima Corindia | Sustainable Environmental Management Honourable Mention, 2025 Work-Integrated Learning Student of the Year
Growing up near Lake Simcoe gave Prima an understanding of its ecosystem – and an intuitive connection to the natural world that never quite let go. After earning a diploma and getting her start in Toronto’s fashion industry, she felt a persistent pull toward environmental impact work, inspiring her to bridge the worlds of fashion, policy, science, and sustainability.
This led her to the Sustainable Environmental Management program in York’s faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, where she completed a placement as a Communications Coordinator for Fashion Takes Action in her third year.
“Sustainable fashion is still a small industry in Canada, and too often it’s overshadowed by greenwashing from major brands,” says Prima. “Most sustainability programs focus on food or energy, but clothing is something we interact with every day, and many people don’t know how to engage with it responsibly. That gap is what inspired me to step into this work.”
Fashion Takes Action (FTA) is a Canadian non-profit working to make the fashion industry more sustainable by teaching people about the environmental impact of clothing and working with companies to reduce waste and improve practices. The organization offers education programs, research, and tools that support both consumers and industry in making more sustainable choices.
In her role, Prima supported research, communications, and educational projects that helped strengthen FTA’s mission to reduce the environmental and social impacts of clothing.
"My Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) placement with Fashion Takes Action significantly enhanced my personal, academic and career development by broadening my understanding of what the Sustainable Environmental Management program can lead to beyond the classroom."
Prima developed her technical and organizational skills as she worked to streamline workflows and enhance project timelines. She is recognized for her contribution to creative solutions, including proposing an interactive Google Map showcasing secondhand clothing stores across Canada, an initiative designed to increase public access to sustainable shopping options.
A standout achievement during her role was transforming the organization’s “My Clothes My World” education program content into interactive, teacher-ready unit plans, with a goal of expanding the program’s educational impact. Her research contributions also supported a project focused on understanding the clothing cycle and recycling knowledge within underserved and Indigenous communities.
Prima emphasizes that her placement allowed her to connect her academic foundation from the Sustainable Environmental Management program with real-world applications. “I applied the research and critical thinking skills developed in my coursework, while strengthening an area I previously found challenging: learning to conduct focused, efficient research and shift more quickly into analysis and written output instead.”
She also notes that her role empowered her to connect her creative and industry background to key business event objectives. While helping plan FTA’s ReMode Montreal event, Prima used her personal fashion network in Toronto to connect Montreal-based creatives and recruit vendors. This experience brought together her academics, career development, and personal passion in new and exciting ways.
By sharing her experiences, Prima is excited to make sustainable fashion a more visible career pathway for fellow students.
Aryan Kansagara
Aryan Kansagara Computer Science Honourable Mention, 2025 Co-op Student of the Year
During his 12 month software engineering co op with Ontario Public Service, Computer Science student Aryan Kansagara was excited to help build and improve test automation to improve quality assurance processes for applications used by Ontario residents.
Working for government in a software engineering role was an exciting moment for Aryan, whose journey into computer science began in high school, when he taught himself to code. To help accelerate his skills at that time, Aryan enrolled in global programming competitions where he spent time racing against the clock. Solving complex problems under pressure sparked a fascination with programming that eventually grew into a post secondary goal: his desire to study at York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering in Toronto, Canada.
Once he made the transition to York from his home city of Rajkot, India, Aryan understood the importance of building practical skills and getting a foot in the door. He decided to apply for co-op in his third year of studies.
He earned a 12-month Software Engineering co-op with the Ontario Public Service, where he developed and maintained over 100 automated UI tests, reducing manual regression testing effort by around 30% and expanding automated coverage across key user workflows. He also worked on improving how the system detected and diagnosed failures. His supervisor noted he "exceeded expectations" and brought "exceptional enthusiasm and work ethic" to the role.
"Co-op transformed how I understand software engineering. Before, I saw code as the end goal. Now, I understand that code is just the means. The real goal is impact."
From there, he was trusted with developing features for two major public-facing web applications used across Ontario. He wrote clean, accessible, maintainable code, worked closely with senior developers, and verified AODA compliance through over 200 manual test cycles.
“Working on applications used by millions of Ontarians taught me that every line of code carries responsibility,” he says. “I learned to write tests that don't just pass, but that actually catch regressions.”
Outside of work, Aryan stays involved in York's tech community. As President of the AI & Data Society, he handles strategic planning, runs workshops, mentors new executives, and advocates for student resources. As Technical Lead for YU Data Science, he led development of a ReactJS chatbot to help with student engagement. He also serves as an IT Executive for ElleHacks, Canada's largest hackathon for women and gender diverse students.
Aryan’s journey reflects not only strong engineering ability, but a deep commitment to community impact and student success.
“Co-op transformed how I understand software engineering,” he says. “Before, I saw code as the end goal. Now, I understand that code is just the means. The real goal is impact.”
Saransh Mahajan
Saransh Mahajan Computer Science Honourable Mention, 2025 Co-op Student of the Year
When he first began to explore computer science field years ago, Saransh Mahajan quickly recognized that coding alone wasn’t the right fit. “It bored me to just script,” he recalls. “I began to look into other areas in tech that could offer me more interaction.”
His interest in human‑centred technology and psychology led him to cybersecurity, a diverse and expanding field, which can offer far more than people may expect from traditional tech roles. After completing an associate’s degree in Computer Science and a diploma in Cybersecurity and Threat Management he decided to apply as a transfer student to York University’s Computer Science program for better exposure, a Bachelor’s degree and the opportunity to accelerate his career with co-op.
His academic pivot paid off when he landed a co-op role with MDA Space, Canada's largest space technology developer and manufacturer. In his role as Cybersecurity Analyst, Saransh was responsible for incident triage, vulnerability assessments and producing technical documentation.
He soon built upon these core duties and demonstrated his initiative by identifying process gaps and designing solutions to address them, bridging the connection between technical signals and human behavior.
“Saransh shared that he was passionate about the human aspects of cybersecurity, and this was an area that he felt he could offer significant value,” shared his supervisor, Uriah McCann, Director, Cybersecurity, MDA Space.
"My co-op experience at MDA Space significantly enhanced my personal, academic, and professional development. Working with enterprise-scale tools and real incidents deepened my understanding of how cybersecurity concepts translate into operational decision-making under real-world constraints."
As an example, one of his most impactful contributions involved enhancing the organization’s Business‑Critical Risk Management program and making it more effective. By refining alert logic, analyzing user behavior patterns, and aligning technical findings with business context, he helped reduce false positives by approximately 20% and improved investigation response times by up to 80%. These improvements increased operational efficiency, reduced analyst workload, and enabled faster, risk‑informed decision-making across the organization.
Saransh was also entrusted with supporting the early integration of AI‑driven risk detection features. He rapidly adapted to emerging tools and worked across multiple departments—including Legal, Corporate Security, and business leadership—to identify use cases and ensure alignment between technical capabilities and broader organizational needs.
As a final standout achievement of his term, Saransh independently designed, tested, and launched an operational Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) workflow. Leveraging existing tools, external intelligence feeds, and API integrations, he created a system that identifies and contextualizes actionable threat insights and sends them directly to organizational stakeholders. This innovation eliminated the need for manual monitoring and continues to provide business value.
“Saransh’s exceptional technical achievements, initiative, and professionalism have made a lasting impact on our cybersecurity operations,” says McCann. “His ability to deliver innovative solutions, collaborate across teams, and communicate effectively with stakeholders sets a high standard for co-op excellence.”
Saransh’s extraordinary co-op achievements have reconfirmed his passion for working in cybersecurity at the intersection of threat intelligence, risk assessment and the human factors that influence security outcomes. Congratulations Saransh!
Brianna Nguyen
Brianna Nguyen is Work-Integrated Learning Student of the YearThis is how she's creating impact as a Dev Degree Intern at Shopify
As a second-year Digital Technologies student at York’s Markham Campus and a Dev Degree intern at Shopify, Brianna Nguyen has distinguished herself through initiative, persistence, and a commitment to community impact. She is York University's 2025 Work-Integrated Learning Student of the Year and provincially recognized as Work-Integrated Learning Student of the Year by Experiential & Work-Integrated Learning (EWO) Ontario.
Brianna’s academic, professional and creative pursuits all demonstrate her deep engagement and advocacy for work-integrated learning as a tool for empowerment, innovation and growth. In York University’s fully work-integrated Digital Technologies program at Markham Campus, Brianna dedicates 80% of her time to working full-time at Shopify, and 20% to completing her academic courses in intensive five-day blocks.
Balancing full-time work with year-round independent study, she has spent the past several months contributing to meaningful technical projects within Shopify’s Activation team. Her work helps support new merchants as they onboard and begin to use the platform.
Early in her internship, she helped build backend functionality for Shopify’s new Retail Yearly subscription, gaining foundational experience in shipping production code.
"I have gained a newfound confidence that defines me today. I feel empowered that my work positively impacted my peers and community members."
With more experience, skill and confidence Brianna was able to move to more complex challenges involving artificial intelligence. As a highlight, she is proud to have contributed to the backend for Shopify’s AI-powered voice assistant. She also independently owned the development of a new tool that enables non-developers to quickly test prompts across AI models, significantly reducing iteration time and improving workflows. Brianna was recently recognized by her supervisor as performing at the level of an entry-level full-time developer, despite being a first-year intern.
Brianna is not only dedicated to maximizing her own impact and learning; she is equally passionate about shaping a culture of inclusion in the tech industry and creating space for others to thrive. She has helped to create an inclusive environment for all interns at Shopify by hosting a Lightning Talk session, an event open for all employees to hear interns’ reflections and learning highlights. Inspired by Lightnight Talks' impact, Brianna decided to deliver one of her own, where she shared her experiences overcoming imposter syndrome and using vulnerability as a strength. She continues to be a mentor to the new Dev Degree cohort.
“Brianna has consistently shown a strong sense of responsibility and professionalism, managing her time between work and studies remarkably well, staying actively engaged in class, and clearly standing out as one of the most motivated and top-performing students in the cohort,” says Larry Yueli Zhang, Digital Technologies Undergraduate Program Coordinator.
Across her incredible accomplishments, Brianna represents the exceptional impact of student talent.
Jenny Peach-Squibb, Professional Skills Coach, Employer & Educational Partnerships, Markham Campus supported Brianna's nomination and notes, "Brianna’s success at York and Shopify demonstrates the transformative impact of work-integrated learning, empowering students with the confidence, practical skills and experience needed to make meaningful contributions early in their careers."
Brianna is proudly recognized by York as an advocate for inclusive work-integrated learning that empowers others to see themselves reflected in industry.
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