Vitusha Oberoi

In his debut book Where the Water Takes Us, animator Alan Barillaro (Animation ’96) has returned home – to Canada’s idyllic lakes and islands – to give us a story that chose him as its author long before he won an Oscar for the animated short Piper in 2017.

Steffi Marcos’ career trajectory as a cyber security expert is almost textbook perfect. Soon after graduating from Sheridan’s Information Systems Security program in 2022, she got permanent employment at PwC Canada, a leading consultancy firm. As Senior Associate, Cyber Forensic Investigations, Marcos is currently a member of a dynamic team that ensures cyber safety for the firm’s clients and helps them to stave off potential cyber threats through proactive measures. Not only does Marcos’ insta

There’s more to a Sheridan program than the curriculum taught in class — and Nick Walker Grimshaw (Media Arts ’14, Bachelor of Film & Television ’18) discovered that quite early as a student of Media Arts. Although he was studying filmmaking, he always had a passion for music. Soon after joining Sheridan, he realized many of his fellow students needed music for their class projects, and he started volunteering his skills.

Going to college was a huge decision for Roger Rebelo (Building Environmental Systems Operator ’21). He was 37 years old, married with two kids, and he was working full-time as a maintenance team lead at a large commercial building. A return to school, even for a year, implied additional demands on his time and resources, something he could ill-afford. “I didn't really have much of an education as far as college goes. I had started working in construction jobs right out of high school. Everything I knew about maintenance I had learned on the job,” Rebelo says.

Bobby Chiu (Computer Animation ’04), Keith Chang (Graphic Design ’92), Brendan Muir (Bachelor of Game Design ’18), and Anu Raina (Crafts and Design Fabrics ’10) started their own ventures after graduating from Sheridan’s Faculty of Animation, Arts & Design – with little else to back them except their skills and raw courage – and succeeded in realizing their dream of giving a free reign to their creativity as artist-entrepreneurs.

After a 10-year break from life as a career woman, Meena Chowdhury has found her feet again in the workplace. Within months of graduating from Sheridan’s Advertising and Marketing Communications – Management program – which she joined with her son – the 45-year-old mom of three is working as a Media Planner for a leading creative agency Wavemaker and fulfilling the dreams she had been forced to put on hold.

Amritpal Gill (Police Foundation ‘10) met Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle in May this year as a member of an RCMP contingent. He and his fellow officers were in England at the request of the Queen who wanted four members of the RCMP’s Musical Ride unit to escort her vehicle at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in celebration of her Platinum Jubilee as Britain’s longest reigning monarch. Just four months later, the Queen’s passing dismayed millions across the globe.

Ever gown in Resa McConaghy's Art Gown Collection is made of discarded materials which otherwise would have ended up in landfills. The designer, who has created costumes for more than 50 films, rescues old textiles such as dresses, suits, curtains, cushion covers, pillowcases, tablecloths, jackets, scarves and ties, and with her vivid imagination and creativity, gives them a second lease on life.

Kris Girdauskas (Tool and Die Maker Apprentice ’02) was a few months shy of graduation when he chanced upon a small shop. The owner was retiring and Girdauskas, who had always dreamed of running his own shop, saw an opportunity. He bought the 1,300-square foot one-man operation and started Re-Strike Machine and Tool Inc. – singlehandedly booking orders, machining and delivering the parts he manufactured on a few basic machines.

Stacey Chomiak’s memoir, Still Stace – My Gay Christian Coming-of-Age Story, is on the shelves at Indigo and she has just finished the audio recording of the book in which she recreates her journey of despair and discovery as a gay Christian struggling to reconcile her sexuality with her religion. Not too long ago, a book deal was just a dream and the thought of having her name in Indigo’s catalogues seemed impossible to Chomiak.

Dharma Bizier’s voice is capturing hearts and minds across Canada. The 2019 Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance alumna is touring the country with multi-platinum, Juno award winning, singer-songwriter Johnny Reid on his 2022 Canadian tour, Love Someone: An Intimate Evening with Johnny Reid. Reid’s tour is set to be one of the longest running artist tours in Canadian history with over 100 shows planned over the next few months. Bizier opens the show for Reid with three songs.

Children find it easy to talk to Steven Botelho’s (Illustration ’05) puppets. These ragdolls, put together with pieces of foam, fur and fleece, connect with kids in a way their family or friends may not be able to. They help them explore the thoughts and behaviours which they worry set them apart from the others around them. The puppets create a safe space for kids to have a dialogue, specially for those who may have questions about their mental health.

A five-storey recreation and athletics hub for students, by students, with a former student managing the $43-million project – the Hazel McCallion Campus Student Centre is the newest kid on the block at Sheridan, and it’s a tribute to the imagination and creativity of its student community. “The project started with a survey in 2016 which asked students what it was they’d like to see on campus," says Sheridan graduate and Project Manager of the Student Centre, Lucas Laurenssen (Architectural Technology ’10).

It took two years of persistent efforts for Ravleen Kaur (Social Service Worker ’18) to help a young woman finally escape her abuser and build a new life, away from the sordid underworld of human trafficking. With Ravleen’s support, not only did the 19-year-old, displaced from another city, find a house and a nurturing environment to live in, she also returned to school to complete her education. She is one of the many victims of sexual abuse and human trafficking rescued by Ravleen.

It’s a magical coming alive of dreams, spurring Gymiah Gariba’s vivid imagination to compare Sheridan to Hogwarts – the fictional school of wizardry in the Harry Potter series - and the animation peg bar he used in class to a magic wand. Recalling how he’d ‘geek out’ over animation with his classmates, he says: “I think the wildest experience for me was to be this singular person, so interested in animation, and then meet other people (at Sheridan) who grew up in different parts of the world and were also just as interested in these very same, specific things."

An invaluable piece of Black history is on the road to still greater recognition, thanks to Sheridan graduate and professor in the Faculty of Animation, Arts & Design, Mark Stoddart (Illustration ’92). Stoddart has created a mural and a GO bus wrap for Metrolinx, featuring Canada’s first lady of the blues, Salome Bey, in celebration of Black History Month. The special edition bus, covered in Stoddart’s distinctive collage design, comprises newspaper headlines, photos, interviews, and reviews of Bey dating back over 50 years.

Charmaine Hammond (Correctional Worker ’85) is the executive producer of Back Home Again, an animated short film inspired by the Fort McMurray fires that burned down approximately half a million hectares of land, destroyed thousands of homes and forced the evacuation of over 90,000 residents from the town. The film, which explores the impact of such adversities on communities, won the Jury Award for Best Animation Short (Alberta) and the Audience Choice Award for Best Short (Dramatic) at the 2021 Edmonton International Film Festival.

Over the last one year, pop-up markets organized by Sheridan graduate Ashleigh Montague (Project Management ’16) have supported over 50 BIPOC-owned businesses, helping them to boost their sales and increase their outreach in the Hamilton, Niagara, Brantford and Halton regions. The pop-up markets showcased unique arts and crafts, including jewellery, candles and ornaments, as well as food and clothes stalls, and brought holiday cheer in the communities around them, in addition to brisk sales for the business-owners.

Abhishek Hastir recalls the first time he entered the lobby of Sheridan’s Davis Campus, its doors sliding open as he stepped into a world far removed from his hometown in Punjab, India. “You know, it feels normal now, but I still remember when I walked up to those doors and they opened automatically. At that time, I was like, ‘Wow, this is a magical place!’ And I saw all these students from different backgrounds – Indians, South Asians, Chinese, South African, domestic students – all in one place. I was just amazed by the idea that I’d be gaining so much knowledge from this place, and how many doors it’d open for me,” he recalls.

Somewhere in his basement, Randall Kapuscinski (Advanced Television and Film ’04) has a collection of fairly old Greek texts dating back to 1870s, a reminder of his passion for ancient history, literature, and an unfinished degree in Classics from the University of Victoria. “I learned Ancient Greek and it was in fact the most enjoyable class that I might have had. I like to get to the root of things and I guess that’s what appealed to me about the classics focused on Greek and Roman history."