Community and business leaders in Surrey have nothing to fear about the future of business if last week's award ceremonies are any indication.
The Surrey Board of Trade held its second annual Top 25 Under 25 awards at Eaglequest Golf Course May 29, and there was no shortage of young talent in the room.
Daryl Dela Cruz is a 16-year-old who has been involved in various transit advocacy movements. At 15, he founded the SkyTrain for Surrey initiative, an active organization that is advocating for SkyTrain rapid transit in Surrey over at-grade light rail transit (LRT), citing business cases and perception flaws in LRT proposals. He also recently launched the Progressive Surrey Transit Coalition, an advocacy organization with the goal of supporting progressive transit options for a fast-growing Canadian city with transit needs and an uncertain future.
Ravneet Dhaliwal, 20, is the director of student affairs at the tutorial company Math4Me Learning Inc. Dhaliwal manages 400 student participants and 60 employees at two branches in Surrey and Vancouver. She received more than $65,000 in scholarships upon high school graduation and was awarded the Governor General's Medal of Academic Excellence.
Twenty-three other accomplished young people were also congratulated by keynote speaker Ryan Walter, president and CEO of the Abbotsford Heat. Ryan shared some poignant stories from his NHL career and urged the students not to "allow their early success to hijack their future success."
According to recent census results, Surrey is the youngest city in Canada, having the highest number of youth as a percentage of population of any city in the country. So competition was tough for the 25 winners who were nominated and awarded for their leadership skills, work on business and community initiatives and entrepreneurial spirit.
In a time when youth are often portrayed in a negative light, it was refreshing to hear about these incredible future leaders who are passionate about their city and contributing to positive change in the world. •
