Alum Day 2024

Saturday, May 25, 2024

York House School and the YHS Alum Association are looking forward to seeing you on Alum Day, Saturday, May 25, 2024. It will be a day of connection, networking and conversations.

Alum Day 2024 Program

We have a jam-packed Alum Day planned for you and it kicks off at 9:30 am with registration and coffee. Our much anticipated inaugural Alum Business Fair opens in the Gail Ruddy Foyer at 10:00 am. Drop-in and peruse our local alum businesses then stay for some of the Alum Expert Talks, Virtual Reality Workshop, and lunch.

From 10:30am-11:00am, you can choose from one of the following offerings:

Confident Public Speaking with Camilla Burgess '00
Legacy and Impact: Leaving Your Mark, Big or Small with Neesha (Vyas) Blajberg '86
Virtual Reality Demo Session with Anson Lit, Technology & Audio Visual Support Specialist at YHS (Limited to 8 participants)

From 11:00am-11:30am, you can choose from one of the following offerings:

Ask me Anything - Insurance 101 with Audrey Hui ‘97
HR Insider Workshop - Natasha (Hudda) Jeshani '01
Virtual Reality Demo Session with Anson Lit, Technology & Audio Visual Support Specialist at YHS (Limited to 8 participants)

Following these sessions, there will be lunch in the cafeteria. Throughout the morning, you will also have the opportunity to explore the senior school, visit the Museum & Archives, and reconnect with your Yorkie network. For classes celebrating milestone reunions, please make sure to let us know if you are planning to have a group so we can make sure you have your own reunion table.

If you have any questions about the day, please email yhsalum@yorkhouse.ca or call the YHS Alum Office at 604-730-2409.

Alum Expert Talks 2024

List of 4 items.

Ask me Anything: Insurance 101 with Audrey Hui ‘97
Bio
Audrey will share tips and answer any questions you may have around the colourful world of insurance.

Speaker Bio:

Audrey started at York House in Gr. 3 until she graduated in 1997. She currently works for her family business, an insurance brokerage called Park Georgia Insurance. Audrey has always loved teaching, having taught English for many years, in Hong Kong local schools and an international kindergarten as a special needs education assistant. She lived in Hong Kong from 2008 – 2015, which helped her with Cantonese and conversational Mandarin. She also opened a play cafe in North Van. called Treehaus Teahaus from 2018-2020, but had to close it due to COVID.
Confident Public Speaking with Camilla Burgess '00
Bio
Whether you love it, or loathe it - this workshop is for you! Honing your public speaking skills helps in all manners of communication. Join us for this highly interactive workshop where you'll learn and practice some fundamentals for effective speaking, connect to your authentic voice, and get your questions answered. See you there!

Speaker Bio:

Camilla Burgess ‘00, is the Founder and CEO of Viva Voce Speech Arts Studio, an Executive Coach, and a Voice & Speech expert. Over the last 12 years, she and her team have helped thousands of people globally become the leaders and speakers they wish to be. She is also a mum of two, who loves being active outdoors, gardening, and good food.
Legacy and Impact: Leaving Your Mark, Big or Small - Neesha (Vyas) Blajberg ‘86
Bio
What does leaving a legacy mean to you? For some, it might involve significant achievements or assets to pass on to loved ones, while for others, it could be the intangible impact they hope to have on other people’s lives or future generations.

Neesha (Vyas) Blajberg’s talk, Legacy and Impact: Leaving Your Mark, Big or Small, will explore the concept of legacy and offer practical insights and actionable strategies to help you reflect on how you wish to make your mark on the world.

Speaker Bio:

Neesha Blajberg is a Stress & Anxiety Coach for Women, Tween, and Teen Girls. She is a certified life coach as well as a certified teacher and educational consultant with 28 years of teaching experience.

Neesha works with pre-teen and teenage girls to help them develop the skills they need to navigate the challenges of adolescence and beyond. She also works with women who want to learn how to better manage stress, deal with anxiety, prevent burnout, and live their lives with their values in mind.
The HR Insider Workshop with Natasha (Hudda) Jeshani ‘01
Bio
Being in recruitment and HR, Natasha literally wrote the book on how to build an application process that aligns with hiring managers, recruiters and HR professionals. During her session, Natasha will go over some important considerations during your job search, provide some tips on how to effectively apply, interview and negotiate your salary, and bust some common myths and misconceptions around recruitment.

Speaker Bio:

Natasha Jeshani is the President & CEO of Career Contacts (a Fractional Human Resources & Recruitment Consulting Firm) and the Founder of Training Arch (a Corporate Training Company). Career Contacts began in 1995, and is so proud to have maintained long lasting relationships for nearly 30 years. Natasha and her team of 20 support organizations throughout Canada and the US to recruit, retain and develop top talent.

She is also the Author of the #1 best selling book, The HR Insider; how to land your dream job and keep it which hit #1 on Amazon. Natasha holds a Sociology degree from UBC, an HR Management Certificate, with distinction, from BCIT, and has her CPHR and SHRM-SCP. She was recently the recipient of the Business in Vancouver’s Top40UnderForty and a nominee for the Women of Distinction Award. Natasha is also passionate about service, currently serving as Board Member and HR Chair for the Vancouver International Children’s Festival, an Advisor at Venture for Canada, and Board Director at Innivec and the Canadian Construction Women.

With respect, we acknowledge that the land on which we learn, play, and work is the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the xwməѲkwəyəm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səlílwəta/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.