I am a fourth year BMSc/HBA dual degree student, originally from Calgary Alberta. Despite Calgary’s reputation as an oil town, the city has greatly informed my interest in sustainability due to its strong community, entrepreneurial spirit and proximity to some of Canada’s most beautiful natural scenery. I enjoy cycling, cross-country skiing and downhill skiing. I also love cooking and actively support local and responsible growers and food purveyors. As a result I am very interested in food security and sustainability. I have always loved learning and traveling and I plan to continue to pursue both throughout my lifetime.
Additional Information
Personal Definition of Sustainability
My personal definition of sustainability is any activity that through its performance is able to continue to operate without negatively impacting social, economic or environmental value. I also believe that these three facets of sustainability: social; environmental and economic, are inexorably linked and that any organization striving to achieve sustainability in one area will only be successful if they also behave sustainably in the other two areas.
Sustainability-in-Action
In high school I visited Peru, Vietnam and Cambodia to work alongside locals on development projects. These trips are an example of ‘volun-tourism’, which is not a prime strategy to achieve sustainable development, however, they did provide me with a better understanding of various cultures and a more realistic view of the developing world. I am tutor with Western SOS, a chapter of the social enterprise Students Offering Support. The money raised is used to fund development projects in Central America. SOS partners with local non-profits to ensure that value is created for the communities in which they work. I am also an executive of Smart Solutions, a club that focuses on providing students with opportunities to learn about and develop sustainable solutions for global development issues. My membership in this club has allowed me to plan and/or attend conferences on social entrepreneurship and health technology as well as take part in a case competition focused on HIV prevention for youth living in Ghana. Finally, the research that I completed this past summer supports a body of research that will hopefully help to prevent over-prescription of expensive Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators in patients who do not need them.
