What began as a seemingly distant vision to have an impact on the education system has finally materialized for one ambitious business management and entrepreneurship student.
Second-year student, David Paré, officially launched the Young Pros club along with his team on Sept. 18, 2015.
The newly developed club was an idea derived from a similar group he discovered through friends in Michigan.
“I loved the concept of the club in Michigan and I knew I had to bring something like it out to Ottawa,” said Paré.
The club will aim to connect, develop and empower the next generation of leaders who share the same desire to succeed and leave the world a better place.
This will be realized through an array of philanthropic and social events. It will finish with an end-of-the-year mission trip to Appalachian Valley, one of the poorest placesin North America.
It took Paré 10 months from when he first discovered the Michigan chapter of Young Pros to then recreate the idea at Algonquin.
“I’m so excited about this vision and now I’m finally seeing itcome to life in front of me,” said Paré.
And that excitement could be felt by others who attended the launch as well.
“I can literally see the fire coming out of this guy,” said Thoma Simpson, who describes himself as Paré’s landing pad when he first moved to the city. Simpson gave him a place to stay.
Ultimately, Paré wants the club to enable members to succeed and have access to support and encouragement in order to achieve their goals.
“You can’t do anything alone – not if you actually want to succeed,” said Ethan Camarena, a student in Algonquin’s Health and Fitness Promotion program. “It’s all about the people.”