Education

  • Education,  Helen McCrae Award

    Helen McCrae Award 2021 – Arica Hsu from Langara College

    As an immigrant and trans woman of color, Arica’s lived experiences have given her insight in how the education and healthcare systems (including the healthcare professionals it produces) can be improved to better help, support, and protect people like herself. In addition to volunteering for various social and advocacy committees, she provides support for the homeless community in Vancouver.   Arica’s career goal is to decrease barriers that prevent queer and other under represented people from accessing culturally safe care and succeeding in society.

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  • Education,  Live Your Dream

    Live Your Dream Award 2021 – Verukah Poirier, the 1st Place Recipient

    Verukah PoirierLive Your Dream Award (2021) 1st Place Recipient We’re proud to name Verukah as our 1st place Live Your Dream winner. Our LYD winner spent her early years of childhood with her indigenous (Kookum) grandmother however was later placed in the child welfare system spent most of her childhood as a youth in care. She has survived the child welfare system however it left her without family or supports until she aged out of the system. In 2019 she became a single mother to a beautiful daughter named Avery who is currently watching her mother attend UBC as a 1st year law student after finishing her bachelor degree in…

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  • Education,  Live Your Dream

    Live Your Dream Award 2021 – Noor Kesbeh, the 2nd Place Recipient

    Noor KesbehLive Your Dream Award (2021) 2nd Place Recipient Noor fled her home country which was over taken and invaded by another country in warfare, forcing her and her parents to find a new home. Despite losing her ties with her culture and her country, Noor is very grateful to be living in Canada and pursuing her dream of helping others like herself. She started as a live in caregiver and suffered exploitation and abuse in the workplace, but she persevered in order to obtain her Canadian permanent resident status. She continued on and immediately applied to University and started her studies. During this time she was also married for…

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  • Education,  Live Your Dream

    Live Your Dream Award 2021 – Heather MacNeil, the 3rd Place Recipient

    Heather MacNeilLive Your Dream Award (2021) 3rd Place Recipient Heather is a married mother of 3 children and because of COVID, her husband has created major financial issues for their family and she has had to be the sole income earner for their family. Up until a year and a half ago, she didn’t know what to do in life was working in the deli department of a grocery store. She started looking around for something else to do and started housekeeping at an elderly care facility and just loved being there and loved the feeling of helping the seniors plus gaining a second family away from her home. Now,…

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  • Education,  Girls Program,  Teenagers,  Training Program

    Diane Rolston is telling high school girls “The Secrets to Your Success” at DIBI Virtual Conference, November 21st

    This year for the 2020 Dream It Be It Virtual Career Conference, we are fortunate to have Diane Rolston as one of the keynote speakers! As an someone who runs a business, speaks on international stages, 3-time author, and mother of two on top of all that. Diane knows firsthand about creating work/life balance. Diane is recognized as one of the most trusted, business and motivational keynote speakers and coaches. Her systems & processes help her clients have “clarity” on what to focus on, the “confidence” to go or it, and an “action” plan for tangible steps. In this virtual conference, Diane will be presenting “The Secrets to Your Success”.…

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  • Education,  Girls Program,  Teenagers

    Dream It Be It Virtual Career Conference

    For girls in Vancouver and Richmond secondary schools Vancouver – Saturday, November 21st, 2020 – The Soroptimist club will be hosting an event, Dream It Be It Virtual Career Conference. The event will take place between 10AM-3PM. This year, instead of a face-to-face conference, we will meet you on-line! Dream It, Be It targets girls in secondary school who face obstacles to their future success. The Soroptimist club introduces girls to professionals from various employment areas, career educators, and resources to live their dreams. Soroptimist International of Vancouver will work in partnership with girls in a conference setting to provide them with the information and resources they want and need to…

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  • Education,  Girls Program,  Local Community,  Teenagers

    Media and the Mind Conference on May 14th

    Soroptimist International of Vancouver and UBC HOPE are proud to present our Media and the Mind Conference on May 14th from 9:30am – 4pm at the UBC Vancouver campus. This year’s conference is focused on bringing together members of the community to create an open dialogue regarding mental health as well as how we perceive and use social media. Inspiring keynote speakers at the conference are: Carol Todd (mother of Amanda Todd), Anita Roberts (founder of safeteen.ca), Aidan Scott (Tedx speaker), and Jane Thornthwaite (MLA and Head of the Child and Youth Committee) Members of the community are invited to attend this conference The conference is free with a complimentary…

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  • Education,  Girls Program,  Local Community

    2015-2016 SI of Vancouver’s New Girls Program

    UBC HOPE and SI of Vancouver’s Women’s Career Conference on May 9th from 10am – 3pm on the UBC campus brought together women from different walks of life in efforts to empower, educate and equip women of this generation with the tools and skills needed to turn their dreams into reality. Girls from local Vancouver high schools and colleges were invited to this free conference where there was a morning of inspiring keynote speakers, a catered lunch, and an afternoon of workshops where they learned important life skills such as university transition and how to network with professionals in the field they hope to go into. The girls connected with…

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  • Education,  Fundraising,  Girls Program,  Local Community,  Stop Bullying,  Stop Gender Violence

    The Last Word – Some Thoughts on Victim Blaming

    The Last Word – Some Thoughts on Victim Blaming By Anita Roberts, SafeTeen International As women, we are vulnerable to acts of violence because: we live in a violent and misogynist world and we are perceived as vulnerable, we are often physically smaller, we are not taught skills to defend ourselves or effectively prevent violent confrontations. As women we may find it difficult and even impossible to prevent or defend ourselves from an act of violence because: We have been conditioned to be polite and trusting. We have been conditioned to believe that we are not capable of taking courageous action on our own behalf. We have been conditioned to…

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  • Education,  Local Projects

    A Local Project – Supporting Queen Alexandra School

    For years, Soroptimist International of Vancouver has committed to provide the funding to Queen Alexandra School on East Broadway for its “healthy recess snack program” for the children in Kindergarten to Grade 7. It is one of the greatest projects we have. To support Literacy, every Christmas the club provides Book Bags that handmade by Soroptimist members to Grade 1 and Grade 2 children at Queen Alexandra. Each Book Bag contains a book and a snuggly reading buddy. The children have been thrilled to receive a book they can keep for their very own. Last Christmas (December 2013), Soroptimist International of Vancouver had made and delivered 80 Kiddy Bags (every…

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