Raymond Ho

I’m Raymond Ho, a second year Bachelor of Education student in the secondary stream at the University of Alberta. My interests consist of keeping up with my current events and deliberating on topics regarding politics, culture, science, and economics with my friends. I am a huge movie buff and when I am not watching shows or keeping up with the news, I work on my clothing brand that I have been developing for the past couple months.

On July 6 , 2017, during what was supposed to be a summer break to relax and catch up on my sleep, my life was instead turned upside down. Those cruel events you hear on the news, the empathy you feel for those victims and family members, never would I have imagined that my life would be victim to those exact same tragedies. When normalcy in your life breaks and shatters into pieces, you question everything. My life changed. Period.

Rather than sitting there and feeling sorry for my situation, I chose to expose myself to help. Yes, it is difficult. Yes, you will want to give up, but the adversities you face will change you and make you stronger. I’m still battling what happened, but am I better than how I was? Absolutely. Do I still think of or still feel the impact of what happened? Of course. But, if you go through these adversities one step at a time, hour by hour or day by day, I assure you that things will look brighter.

Adversities come and go; they will beat you up, toss you around, and you’ll feel like the world is against you. It is that leap of faith, to go seek and pursue help that will enable you to obtain access to the support system you need. I intend on being a support system for my future students.