My Experience with Illuminate

My name is Devlyn, I am a Grade 11 student at Markville SS. On April 10, 2021, I participated in the Illuminate x Markham conference. Here are some takeaways I have gotten from this event. Be yourself and success will come to you. Don’t worry about not fitting in, especially in high school. ~ Alina One of the speakers was Alina, the CEO of Illuminate Universe. She was on the Junior Girls Varsity Volleyball Team and she felt excluded because, as the only person-of-colour, she was bullied and ostracized from the others. However, she was able to overcome this challenge and become successful. As a student, it is important to be yourself and not let others or your situation define you. You have to uplift yourself and choose success for yourself. The second speaker of the conference was Mash Chowdhury. He is an energetic individual who is currently an Analyst at Deloitte Canada for Cyber Risk Advisory. He talked about his path to success, and what made him so special. He also discussed his struggles with moving to Canada, a whole new world, and the challenging first year of university. We learned about how a consultant works and practiced the same processes a consultant would go through by an interactive exercise. Where the path you decided will affect how your life goes, where it is really important to have a network of your plan, and the determination to head that path. Both Alina and Mash have taught me to organize a plan for my future, and it has given great guidance on how to pursue my goals. Illuminate is a competition that truly produces educational content that incentivizes students to truly seize their full potential.