Families
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Alumni
The morning began with a keynote speaker from the University of Victoria, Dr. Lisa Surridge, who shared advice on “surviving and thriving” in first-year university. Some of her tips included going to class, planning your schedule well, and avoiding online distractions. Students were then invited to attend two career presentations of their choice. The topics ranged from medicine and law, to psychology, engineering and business and many of the presenters were GNS parents.
Students were asked what they thought of the career fair.
Question 1: What did you like about this event? What did you learn?
Arian Shahab ’27: “I enjoyed the realism projected within the presentations, especially when the speakers were talking about the impact their career choice had on their personal life and what their process towards success looked like. I was opened to multiple perspectives within the business world that I may not have perceived before. For example, something incredibly interesting to me was that someone does not need to be familiar with what they want to shape their company around prior to creating it.”
Clio Milwright ’26: “I really liked that those we were learning from had first-hand experience in the fields. It made it so much easier to ask questions about potential concerns or interests I had within the fields, to discover whether they would be good career fits for me. The presenters also provided amazing information about post-secondary courses for different positions, which made the process of applying for universities or med school much clearer.”
Ylinn Wang ’26: “I learned that both of the careers are ones you have to be interested in because both require more than a decade before you can be an independent practitioner. A specialist doctor can spend the entirety of my current life just becoming a specialist doctor.”
Ted Yu ’25: “I enjoyed a presentation done by experts. Both presentations I attended gave me a general understanding of the careers that were quite holistic. In the psychology presentation, I learnt about the various branches of psychology ranging from person-to-person interactions as well as the more research-focused aspects. In the law one, I learned about rather unorthodox routes to becoming a lawyer and what the various work whether it be in court or in the office entailed. All in all, they gave me the knowledge needed to imagine myself working those jobs in the future.”
Erin Plecas ’25: “I liked how we were able to learn about a range of professions from people who have worked the jobs and are able to answer our questions.”
Question 2: Are you looking forward to more of these presentations in the future?
Clio Milwright ’26: “I would love to see more of these presentations! This time, I only chose to go to medical field presentations. If this were to happen again, I would branch off into something more creative. I think this fair was a great way to explore your interests!”
Erin Plecas ’25: “I look forward to more presentations from other professions that we haven’t yet heard from!”
Arian Shahab ’27, Lucy Deshon ’27, Nathan Holtum ’26, and many other students also echoed Erin’s and Clio’s excitement.
Question 3: Is there something in this Career Expo that you did not see but think would have been helpful?
Lucy Deshon ’27: “I did not see anything about Real Estate and I would have loved to see that presentation.”
Arian Shahab ’27: “The only thing I would like to see is more time provided for the speakers. The presentations were great, although they were interrupted by time constraints and in some cases did not allow the speakers to fully finish or answer questions.”
Clio Milwright ’26: “I did not see much by way of culinary or customer service positions, which I think would have been very interesting to look into further.”
Ylinn Wang ’26: “Maybe the fashion industry, science unrelated to medicine, anything in transportation (pilots, naval captains, buses, etc.) or something in the culinary arts might be interesting.”
Ted Yu ’25: “I honestly wish I could have just attended more of them.”
Erin Plecas ’25: “I would have liked if in the beginning we could tell the University Guidance teams what professions we would like to hear from, and therefore the presenters were relevant to what we were interested in.”
GNS has prepared us in many ways for the future, such as the rigorous academics that have taught us vital work ethics to succeed in university as well as maximizing support from our peers, teachers and staff. Opportunities like this fair can help provide students a chance to explore, navigate and solidify their career pathways. Thank you to the University Guidance team and the other faculty and staff who helped make this event happen.
