For Meghan Sharir, donating to Shad carries an emotional resonance that stems from her own experience witnessing the program’s impact on her daughter, Zoë, and the lives of the students with whom Zoë shared one of the most significant summers of her life.
“One of the most impactful parts of the program for Zoë was the kids she met from all corners of the country. She made so many great friendships with students who were at Shad on a scholarship and who shared with Zoë how much it meant for them to be there. So, we know from firsthand account the concrete impact our donation is having on a student’s life, it feels very personal.”
The Sharir family had heard about Shad from others in their community but only learned more about the program when their daughter applied. Nothing like Shad existed in North Vancouver where the family lived, so it seemed like an exciting opportunity for Zoë to explore post-secondary and spread her academic wings.
“Zoë went to a good public school in the area, but there weren’t many enrichment programs for good students. And Zoë was a strong a student, she always did well in school and enjoyed academics, and she was starting to become interested in the sciences, so we thought ‘great, this will allow her the chance to explore that’.”
But Meghan soon learned that Shad was so much more than STEAM exploration for Zoë. Not only was her daughter introduced to new topics through hands-on learning under the guidance of field experts, but she was also immersed in an environment that challenged her to expand her perspective and encouraged her to believe she could solve real-world problems through creative ideation and collaborative teamwork.
“I asked Zoë about why she thought Shad changed her so much and she said that until that point, she had never done anything that was that hard. The design project in particular, having to prepare a business proposal, preparing a product, bringing it to market. It was so new to her and unlike what she usually gravitated towards, and she thought there’s no way they were going to be able to pull it off. But she did! And she said just being able to do that with her peers with no help from the outside is what changed everything.”
Drawing on inspiration from her Shad experience, Zoë embraced her newfound interest in the hard sciences and pursued an undergraduate degree in Chemistry at the University of Toronto. Having experienced some independence through Shad, she felt comfortable going away to university out of province and her parents felt more comfortable supporting the choice. “She had such a great experience going away to university in Toronto, she loved the city and the change of scenery.”
Having successfully completed her undergraduate degree, Zoë is now working on her PhD in environmental chemistry at the University of British Columbia, studying atmospheric particles in relation to forest fire smoke, an incredibly important area of study given the increased rate of forest fires in Western Canada due to climate change. “The Shad experience really taught Zoë that she could handle challenges and not to shy away from big projects and ambitious goals.”
Though years have passed since her daughter attended Shad, Meghan continues to see the ways the program impacted her for the better.
“We’ve always given charitably, but more a little bit here, a little bit there. We never really found the thing that compelled us to give a more significant donation in one place. But I think because Zoë came back so life changed, we knew a donation to Shad was going towards something really meaningful in the life of a deserving student or students.”
Meghan has been impressed by Shad’s commitment to accessibility, building pathways that afford students from different backgrounds the opportunity to meet their potential and explore post-secondary pathways at one of Shad’s partner university campuses each summer. Seeing how that opportunity changed her own daughter’s trajectory continues to motivate the family’s desire to pay the experience forward.
“It was big ‘L’ life changing for Zoë. Meeting so many other kids who shared her interests and having the opportunity to explore science and different fields of study, it really did change her life. She came home different, more confident and self-assured. She found her tribe at Shad.”
For Meghan, supporting students in pursuit of noble goals who then go on to do amazing things to impact the communities in which they live is the most rewarding form of giving. She believes investing in Canadian youth is one of the best ways to affect change and build a future that reflects the ambitious optimism of the students she’s seen at Shad.
“If there’s anything, any small thing that we can do to help a student who deserves an opportunity, it’s hard to think of a better way to do that than giving to Shad. Our experience tells us that our donation will give at least one kid an experience that hopefully will open up a door in some way that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.”
