Siya

LiftED Program Participant and Volunteer (2014–Present)

Siya’s family came to Canada from India and settled in the Jane and Driftwood area, where she and her brother grew up and attended Derrydown Public School. Being from a working class family, Siya recalls her parents working long hours but not having enough disposable income for her to participate in extracurricular activities.

Siya was an engaged student who enjoyed school and longed for a sense of community. She sought out various school clubs and eagerly joined LiftED in 2014 when given the opportunity to participate in the LEAP into Literacy Summer Day Camp program. A LiftED project on the rainforest sparked an early interest in environmental activism and led to her becoming vice-president of her school’s ecology club.

“My family didn’t have a lot of flexibility financially when I was growing up, so I wasn’t able to participate in the breadth of music lessons, sports teams, or other extracurricular activities that many of my peers would talk about,” says Siya. “LiftED’s programs, specifically the LEAP into Literacy program, gave me the fun and educational experience that I lacked without putting a strain on my family’s finances.”

As a youth who enjoyed school and learning, Siya didn’t have the mentorship and guidance to give her encouragement and support. She says her LiftED teachers not only provided literacy support but also encouraged her to take pride in her work and become more confident.

In Grade 11, Siya returned to LEAP as a volunteer and then as a Program Assistant. These roles helped her develop communication skills and gain leadership experience as well as a sense of fulfillment from being able to give back to the program that she enjoyed as a youth.

Now in her final year of high school, Siya has been accepted into the Global Health program at York University and dreams of becoming a physician.