Alumni

For Victoria Koutstaal, recreation is more than just fun and games.

“Recreation is community-based and community-building,” she says. “Socialization and our passions are a huge part of our identity as individuals. Without recreation, we have a really difficult – if not impossible – time being healthy, well-rounded human beings. It’s so vital to people’s mental health.”

Growing up in a family of self-taught women cooks, Shannah Pogline was inspired to explore cooking further and enrolled in VIU’s Culinary Arts program. Since graduating in 1999, Shannah has worked in various roles from fine dining, restaurants and catering to meal prepping and schools.

Brian Yin discovered his passion for education while coaching and mentoring others when he worked as an auditor in New York. He contacted his old high school principal about the possibility of becoming a teacher and after an encouraging reply decided to pursue teaching.

He enrolled in VIU’s Bachelor of Education, Post Baccalaureate program, graduating in 2017. He now works as the Principal of Sino-Canada School. 

Working as a high school teacher in India, Harleen Kalra says it was the sudden transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic that first piqued her in interest in the evolving impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on education.

Tyson Whitney, Editor of the North Island Gazette and a VIU Creative Writing and Journalism alum, received his greatest honour to date this year when he earned a gold medal at the British Columbia and Yukon Community Newspaper Association’s Ma Murray awards show.

Courtney Dubyna’s love of educating children blossomed when she began helping out in a small family daycare she attended as a child. She decided to become an educator and enrolled in Vancouver Island University’s Early Childhood Education (ECE) program.

Kate Wilson was working in a bakery when she decided to take a step further and pursue a professional designation through VIU’s Baking and Pastry Arts program. She graduated from the program in 2020 and is now the owner of Pink Bow Patisserie, which sells wholesale cakes and pastries.

Safe, supported and valued are three words Rayan Zeineddine uses to describe how he feels in his current job as Housing Admissions Coordinator with VIU Residences.

Rayan grew up in Lebanon. After high school, he pursued a degree in medical laboratory technology. He was good at chemistry and biology, so his first thought was to go into medicine.

Valentina Chichiniova remembers being fascinated by the concept of the human psyche when she was introduced to it for the first time in a high school philosophy class.

“I wanted to learn more about what makes us human and informs our behaviour and struggles,” she recalls.