Illuminate x Markham

Hi everyone! My name is Kathryne Zong and I am a Grade 10 student at Burnaby North Secondary. Today, I had the pleasure to attend Illuminate x Markham’s regional conference. Here are my thoughts highlighting some things I learned.

Something I learned today is that it is never too late to try something new. Although you may have a plan for your future, it is not set in stone and if there is something else you want to do, you should just go for it. There were many speakers that spoke about their experience in finding what they enjoy doing. A speaker that was talking about her various career changes was Christal Wang. She jumped from industry to industry, doing many different jobs before founding her Mental Health business Shimmer. Additionally, Alina Huang, the founder of Illuminate Universe also spoke about her experience. She started studying Classical Studies in University and throughout her experiences, landed a job at IBM and went on to entrepreneur her own business. This taught me that although I may go through many experiences later on in my life, it doesn’t matter as long as I keep learning, I will eventually find something I love to do.

Another thing is to continue to learn and grow as a person. Often, to grow, you will need to do things that may be outside of your comfort zone. A speaker, Mash Chowdhury spoke about his struggles with social anxiety and how to overcome it. Often, if you only stay in your comfort zone, it will be difficult to grow as a person and that you shouldn’t be afraid to take risks and put yourself out there.