To Sam
Life coach & student mentor Sam has mentored and coached hundreds and supported their journey

“Sam was a crucial catalyst for so many great things that have occurred in my life. His friendship, guidance and inspiration while I was at SFU set the foundation for me to challenge myself to do more. Now, 5 years after graduating, I look back at many achievements including an Outstanding Alumni Award, a Volunteer Vancouver award, an Oxford MBA, and CEO of my own growing company and I can honestly say that much of this may not have occurred if Sam was not part of my life. This however is not Sam’s amazing achievement. What makes Sam special is that my story is far from unique. With 3,200 Canadians passing through the hallways of Simon Fraser’s business school my story is only one of over 10,000 examples of how Sam has bettered the life of Canadians not only in Canada but around the world”

“I came to Canada with my daughter who was enrolled in a public secondary school . I don’t know English. I paid a large amount of money for her after school tutoring courses. But it didn’t make much difference. I don’t know how to help her out. I was anxious all day until she told me her classmate referred to her as a good teacher. Ally gave my daughter a test and shared with me her analysis. She found out Sage is good at arts , social science. She suggested she choose extensive courses in arts, humanities , psychology and social science and the prerequisite maths and science. I don’t know academic planning, but I can see my daughter gaining confidence gradually. She finally can balance her activities, volunteer work, part-time jobs, dance clubs, piano performance. Ally helped her apply to her favorite universities and she got all the offers. Thanks to Ally. I feel assured and relaxed with her accompanying and mentoring my daughter. “

“When I first came to Canada, I had a feeling of freedom , and full of happiness.My parents are occupied with their businesses in China. Their hope was for me to find good quality and comprehensive support for my education in Canada. I enrolled in a public school, andI needed to take ESL classes. I was limited to only studying two main courses a year. I felt very unmotivated, and I started to spend most of my spare time playing video games. I didn't feel inspired or motivated to study. Sometimes I could play 11 hours a day. This is how I ended the 10th grade. I started to be anxious, but I didn't know how to improve. Later, I met Teacher Ally. She assessed my situation, gave me a holistic academic review and plan, which I followed and it helped me transfer to a private school. I was able to improve my English, as well as other subjects. In about a year, I caught up with the normal progress. In the end, my average score for 11th and 12th grades reached 93 points, and I applied to my first choice university. I sincerely thank Ms. Ally for teaching me during a critical period, and now I finally am proud of myself and my parents are also proud of me.”

“I came to Canada to study with my parents in the 8th grade. Maybe as an adolescent the more my parents asked me to study, the more rebellious I was. For a long time, I was autistic and struggled with studying. How Ms. Ally helped me the most by providing a listening ear. She generally doesn't judge you on what's right and wrong. She allows me to discover my interests. At that time, my parents took away my mobile phone and IPAD. I basically can only use the computer to complete school homework. Later, at the recommendation of Teacher Ally, I started to read. When I was reading, I was focused and calm. . I remember reading more than ten books during that time, then writing book reviews and writing in my own voice. Ally encouraged me to enrich myself by doing academic research, and at the same time to determine the goal of applying to a prestigious American school. I learned to like to challenge myself. After finding my direction, I find that I become more motivated every day. I started to study the IB course in the 11th grade. Although the difficulty and intensity of the IB course are extraordinary, it has greatly helped my adaptability after entering the university.”