Mr. Murray and Mr. Beers-two teachers who helped to make the difference for Jaime. She admits she had not been doing well in school earlier, and when two friends of hers were going to
Pickering College, she wanted to join them. "My parents were not able to afford it. But they did everything they could-my Mom went back to work-and then they surprised me at the end of the year and said I could go," she recalls.
She applied for Brian Murray's leadership program, and for four years was engaged in community programs, last year helping to fund a well in an African village.
Film had always been an interest of Jaime's, and she was a natural for Tim Beers' new communications technology course. Films she worked on won awards in student film festivals in New York and Toronto, and, after graduating from
Pickering College, Jaime was set to attend the International Academy of Technology and Design in Toronto in September with plans to be a film director.
"My teachers were more like friends. You could talk to them about anything," says Jaime who, in spite of "not being academic," finished as an Ontario Scholar. "They are just as excited for you."
