Ontario
ONTARIO
" You are never going to like someone 100%."
HAMILTON, ONTARIO
“Sometimes you have to fight to tell someone who you are.”
ONTARIO
“Being stuck at home is
not for me!”
ONTARIO
“You have to give yourself permission to be an amateur.”
ONTARIO
“ESL is not just utilitarian, it’s humanitarian; it’s about us as people.”
ONTARIO
“While our life was difficult, we didn’t lack in love.”
ONTARIO
“Don’t assume you know everything because you read about it in school.”
ONTARIO
“I think sometimes the international students lack that feeling of belonging.”
WINDSOR, ONTARIO
“It is one of my proudest moments—that acceleration from knowing nothing to being where I wanted to be.”
ONTARIO
“To be honest, we wouldn’t be friends anymore if it wasn’t for that conversation.”
ONTARIO
“It’s hard to make those decisions, choosing not to do something even when you really want to.”
ONTARIO
“For a while, I didn’t actually think post-secondary was an
option for me.”
ONTARIO
“We weren’t allowed to call ourselves Muslims.”
ONTARIO
“Never before had my life come crashing down so explosively; every aspect of my life was blown up.”
ONTARIO
“As much as I hate him, he taught me how to stand up for myself and see what was right and wrong for me.”
ONTARIO
“Education is a privilege, not a right.”
ONTARIO
"I grew up with people who didn’t stop me from reaching for my creative goals; the only thing holding me back was myself."
North
America
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
" I don't even want to be yellow."
NEW BRUNSWICK
"It was like taking off this mask you’ve been forced to wear your entire life and being given the option to be different."
FLORIDA
"Harry Styles has been a big influence on why I love traveling."
CANADA
" When I think of home, I think of how much I miss Vietnam; I'm homesick."
NORTH AMERICA
"Everything they believe in is magic to them. I’m literally making magic for these children."
CUBA
" My best moment was when I went on a walk by myself. "
NORTH AMERICA
" Creativity isn’t just limited to the arts; you need creativity in medicine, you need creativity in science."
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
"My brother noticed that I wasn’t doing too well and the concert was his way of trying to reach out."
VANCOUVER, BC
"Going to college blew my mind."
NORTH AMERICA
"People think that if you have a PhD, you must have done perfect in school."
UNITED STATES
"If you’re doubting who you are when you’re with someone, that’s not who you want to be with."
NORTH AMERICA
"Until I was thirteen, I used Barbies to act out stories."
NORTH AMERICA
“The teacher came in and said we were writing fan letters to stars.”
NORTH AMERICA
“Life is like a train. There are many stops along the journey.”
Greater Toronto
OAKVILLE
" We have to be the people we want our daughter to be."
BRAMPTON
" I’m going to do everything the exact opposite of what I did before."
OAKVILLE
" I like to think of my mental illness as a second person; it’s not me, it’s just another person, sitting on my shoulder, telling me I can’t do it."
MISSISSAUGA
"When I get cold feet about starting something new, I try to speak positively to myself."
BRAMPTON
"It took me a while to have my working-class epiphany."
BURLINGTON
"If I can put two feet on the ground in the morning, I can do something to change my situation."
MISSISSAUGA
"I wake up in the morning and I’m happy to go to class. I took that for granted before."
OAKVILLE
"He was the voice in my head, the inspiration for a lot of my work."
OAKVILLE
"I looked in the mirror and I didn’t recognise my own face; I hadn’t been present for 30 years."
MISSISSAUGA
"I always believe that your true soulmate is like your closest friend."
OAKVILLE
"I want my students to realize their own potential."
BRAMPTON
"I don’t even remember parking the car. I just got out and started looking for my mother."
MISSISSAUGA
"It’s so nice to be out of the house."
OAKVILLE
"It was eye-opening to see how many of the people had shared experiences despite being so different."
OAKVILLE
"While they’re going through their normal lives, we’re right there alongside them, helping them work through different challenges."
NORTH AMERICA
“The teacher came in and said we were writing fan letters to stars.”
Europe
IRELAND
"What’s stopping you? If you know what you want, go make it happen."
ITALY
“Sometimes you have to fight to tell someone who you are.”
EUROPE
"There are really few moments in life where you can just say ‘this is pure joy."
EUROPE
"You have to put the work in."
SCOTLAND
" There was something inside me that said, this is so unusual. It’s like stars aligning. It must be meant to be!."
Asia
VINH, VIETNAM
"I always felt like I didn’t want to be that butterfly stuck on the board with a pin."
INDIA
“I don’t believe in luck.”
ASIA
"When I get cold feet about starting something new, I try to speak positively to myself."
CHINA
" Discovering Instagram was life changing."
VIETNAM
" When I think of home, I think of how much I miss Vietnam; I'm homesick."
JAPAN
"I’ve always been one for the underdog."
PAKISTAN
“We weren’t allowed to call ourselves Muslims.”
INDIA
"I was absolutely drenched in happiness and all the applause they gave me."
SINGAPORE
"What I didn’t realize was that my mother was just trying to say she missed me."