Christiana Agustin 2011 – 2015
Christiana
Agustin attended Blessed Cardinal Newman from 2011 to 2015, where she
participated in Cross Country, Camp Olympia, Student Council and was a
peer helper and mentor. She is currently attending the University of
Toronto, where she is a fourth-year international development studies co-op student working in Bangkok, Thailand.
If
Agustin, who is also working towards a minor in environmental science,
travels an hour out of the city she can explore national parks and
islands full of lush trees, wildlife and see the occasional snake
slithering by her.
Agustin is interning at
The Centre for People and Forests (RECOFTC),
where she is blending her passions for social justice and environmental
science. The international organization works to enhance capacities for
stronger rights, improved governance and fairer benefits for local
people in forest landscapes in seven Asia–Pacific countries through
community forestry.
Community
forestry is an approach to land management that emphasizes land is best
protected when locals have the right to manage it, as opposed to
private companies or governments. Agustin’s work as a monitoring,
evaluation and learning intern involves research and collecting data,
but she says the goal is community forestry.
The
year-long internship will include the opportunity for her to conduct
research toward her undergraduate thesis, which explores the
participation of women in land governance in the Mekong region. She has
her sights on Nepal or Laos as possible locations because of their
rising women’s movements.
“I
would like to identify the challenges they face, and possibly come up
with solutions or tools to help them better navigate these spaces so
they can make a greater impact in the sustainability of their
communities and forest landscapes.”
Her
advocacy ties back to her time in politics. Agustin worked as a
constituency assistant for her MP Gary Anandasangaree (Scarborough-Rouge
Park), then in the Prime Minister’s office in Ottawa this past summer.
With a background in outreach, specifically with Filipino and Indigenous
communities, she worked with the provincial and federal governments on
how to ensure concerns of marginalized groups are considered in
policy-making.
“As
a person of colour, as a woman and as someone who is young, you don’t
always have a voice and there are so many challenges and barriers that
are completely out of my control,” she says. “I want to see at a more
local level if women have those same barriers.”
“It’s
only in discomfort where you’ll grow,” she says. That in itself not
only speaks to growing professionally but also as an individual and to
broaden one’s perspectives on the world.
To see Christiana speaking about women leaders today, click on this link or copy/paste the url below.
https://www.facebook.com/LeadersToday/videos/1663340947045903/
Update
9
January 2021
Christiana graduated in 2020 from the University of
Toronto, Scarborough campus, with a degree in International Development Studies
and Natural Sciences and Environmental Management. She worked as an Outreach
and Operations Assistant in the Office of the Prime Minister for the summers of
2018 and 2019. She recently was a Special Projects Assistant at the
International Student Centre at UTSC and is currently the Executive Assistant
to the Managing Director and Outreach Advisor at the Liberal Research Bureau of
U of T Scarborough.
Niamh Haughey 2012 - 2016
Niamh Haughey was a Newman
student from 2012–2016. During that time, she played on both the hockey
and rugby teams – although several coaches suggested she join other
sports. Looking back, Niamh wished she had gotten involved with other
sports as well in high school as she now knows the importance of being a
well-rounded athlete.
She thanks Ms. Roser and Mr. Mancino for
encouraging her to play rugby at Newman. Niamh went on to play in many
tours with Rugby Canada (U18, x2 U20, and Maple Leafs). She feels rugby
taught her how to play with respect, to both teammates and opponents. It
showed her that hard work is just half the battle and the rest is
believing in one’s own abilities to be the best. Rugby taught her to be
humble – because there is always going to be bigger and better opponents
(whether in sport or a career path.)
After high school Niamh attended Brock University to complete a degree
in Physical Education (Honours Program). At Brock she played on both the
varsity rugby and hockey teams. Niamh feels that by participating in
these sports she walked away with something far greater than sport
medals and titles. She acquired pride and respect for sport, people,
coaches, and others alike.
Bobsleigh came about after Niamh attended the RBC Training Ground – an
athletic combine for all competitors to go and test their speed,
strength, power, and endurance against other athletes. In 2018 she
attended the regional trials, where they rank the Top 100 athletes in
Ontario – she was lucky enough to be one of them. That’s where she was
approached to try bobsleigh. Niamh has realized it’s the perfect
combination of being a little bit crazy, strong, and powerful – skills
she had been developing for years through hockey and rugby. Niamh is a
bobsleigh athlete on Team Canada heading for the Olympics.
Niamh says if she could go back to her Grade 9 self, she would tell
herself to take each day as an opportunity. Each day strive to be
better, not just in sport, but also in life, in school, in hobbies and
in relationships. If you are just that little bit better one day at a
time, then you know you’re going in the right direction.
New-what…!
Niamh thanks everyone at Newman who have helped her be the person and athlete she is today.
Rosalyn [Rosie] Kish 2011 - 2015
Rosie Kish attended Blessed Cardinal Newman from 2011 until 2015. While there, she participated in the Ski/Snowboarding Club and One Community. After high school Rosie received her undergraduate degree from York University in Environmental Studies. In 2020-2021 she completed her Master’s Degree from the University of Toronto in Environmental Science. Rosie has also earned several academic certificates, such as a Certificate in GIS and Remote Sensing- Geography and Cartography from York University, a Certificate in Data Science and a Certificate in Remote Sensing from the Universidad de Costa Rica. Currently she is working as a Forest Carbon Research Analyst.
Her strong interest in terrestrial carbon accounting has been developed through studying plant functional ecological concepts and their influence on soil biogeochemical processes. The functional response and effect type of a plant species describes how it interacts with disturbances and biogeochemical cycles in its environment. Carbon is a key element to all life on earth and is of particular importance in the 21st century.
Rosie’s ultimate goal is to leverage her skills using Google Earth Engine, Python and machine learning to conserve stored carbon in terrestrial vegetation and soils.