Interview with Royal Crown School Alum, Kourosh Sheidaei

I think I was just able to learn so much because I felt that teachers are so much more passionate than what I experienced in public school. The pedigrees of teachers were much higher in every single subject that they were in. They were a lot more experienced in the industry they were teaching about, and they were a lot more passionate about what they were teaching about, and they created really exciting classroom environments, and that's what I really appreciated. I was able to go beyond reading and then getting tested. They brought real life examples into things. They made it a much more enjoyable learning experience.

Royal Crown had much smaller classroom sizes, which made it a lot more personalized. You're able to get help. You're able to ask questions after class and not be in a huge line after class waiting to get your question across or have a teacher who is trying to rush out the door as soon as the class is done. They were super accommodating in terms of answering your questions.

At the end of the day I had a really great experience at Royal Crown based on the teachers and  the learning experience they were able to provide. I think when it comes to the student life and things like that, I think they're very similar across all different private institutions. I think what really differentiates Royal Crown is you have a lot more like an international student base, and that made it super interesting because by being able to learn from different international students I was able to learn a lot about the world and the different stories where people come from.

There was definitely a focus on building the right path for yourself in terms of what you want to achieve in terms of university. There were a lot of different informative sessions for different universities to make sure people were aware of the different opportunities that were ahead of them or that they could be exposed to. They also made an effort to do excursions to the university fair, to make sure students got the education they needed about  the different universities and programs out there.

If Royal Crown had a personality, it would be charismatic, studious, and it’s not very much of a personality trait, but ‘diversity inclusive’ because you have people from so many different backgrounds. When you look at it, when you work with so many diverse people, it really sets you up for success in the future. When you grow up and get put into different environments, it helps you deal with the adversity and also helps you to learn about someone internationally. Down the line, when you speak to someone that comes from a similar background, you can mention things you've learned before, and it creates a connection point that way.

Given that there's a lot of international students, everyone was excited to learn more about Canada and  to get exposed to different people in Canada. And you can see the excitement they have toward all the different events and different festivities and stuff like that. They immersed themselves in Canadian culture, even though Canadian culture is very much like a mixed salad of a bunch of different cultures. There was a common set of gaining new experiences, like meeting new people and getting to know them, which I thought was a very open part about the school.

One of the values at Royal Crown is working hard and making your best effort toward what you want to achieve at the end of the day. That is the main goal of the institution—making sure everyone is working toward whatever their goals are. A lot of times in high school, that goal is getting into a specific university. But I think that Royal Crown was based on determining what it is that you need to learn to set you up with success for whatever you want to achieve and making sure you're able to focus on that and making sure you're on the right path. Nothing is surprising to you as you're going down that path because you have the right tools and the right guidance toward that goal. And another value is making sure that you have fun along the way, making sure you take the opportunities to get new experiences and to meet new people.

I felt there was a lot of psychological safety. Everyone was very friendly with one another. I never saw people being rude to each other or bullying each other. You felt that everyone was there as a team in the school. Everyone was very friendly with one another and that created a really awesome school environment.

Royal Crown is a much newer institution compared to other private schools. There's a lot of pros in that because a lot of the infrastructure they're building is new, both physically and also the tools they are giving students. That is something that's really awesome as a student coming in—you know you're going to get the newest stuff. You're getting a brand new institution at the end of day. It's almost like a tech company in the way that they are looking at the most innovative ways to give students a better experience, both socially and in education.

What's super exciting about the school is that they're taking a modern approach to education. I think that is extremely beneficial for students, because you want to make sure your child is set up to be successful in the future. And a lot of that is making sure that they adopt modern ways of thinking. I think that's what Royal Crown is great for.

If I didn't have the Royal Crown experience, I don't know where I would have been in terms of math. I didn't like math before I came to Royal Crown. Royal Crown is what allowed me to not be intimidated by math and to be excited by the way that I was able to learn it. Royal Crown gave me the opportunity to learn different topics within business and science and computer science that I genuinely wouldn't have been as excited by in the public institution that I went to before. That really shaped the path I went down.

Meeting the different types of students that were at Royal Crown gave me an advantage compared to my peers at university because they didn't have the exposure to international students that I did. That gave me a lot more knowledge about what was going on around the world. It allows me to keep a conversation going, even though I didn't have the opportunity to travel. I definitely give credit to Royal Crown for giving me that opportunity.

It's amazing to see how much the school has progressed. But I think what will make the school more valuable is to create programs where students get a breadth of knowledge or maybe internships in different areas. I think this would be useful to help people to understand what is available to them after university. These are things that I think would be very beneficial to teach children. I think the school did an amazing job at showing the right path to get into specific universities and specific programs. But I think any institution would find it beneficial to educate students in what life would look like after university and make people have a longer-term horizon than just trying to get into a specific school.

You start to value Royal Crown more and more as you progress, because, as you gain the opportunities you have, you think about what some of the things were that really helped you. Now, seven years after leaving Royal Crown, I've had a tremendous amount of opportunities. And now that I look back, I'm very grateful for what the school was able to provide me. I'm very grateful for all the teachers that taught me, and I hope they're all doing well. At the end of the day, it was a really great experience in my life. I had an amazing time, and I'm happy to help the school in any sort of way.

The school is extremely transparent. When you are considering Royal Crown they are very accommodating to try to make sure you understand what you're getting into in terms of what the learning experience is like and what the classroom structures are like. After I had my interview, I really understood how the school works and how they built their curriculum and how their subjects are taught and things like that. They make sure they're very much an open book. My advice is to ask what questions you need to and learn about the school that way.

My advice for new students is that it's really important to get out there and learn as much as possible about the different opportunities that exist. When you're building your career path, do not be stuck on one decision, but make sure that you're making right decisions along the way. There are going to be so many different opportunities. The paths that are available to you are the most numerous they can ever be when you’re in high school and university. Be very excited about the future and be optimistic and from that create the energy to make sure you go down a successful path.