Theme: Drop By Drop

The name of the city Coquitlam comes from the Coast Salish word, Kwikwetlem, meaning “Red fish up the river”, signifying the importance of salmon inhabiting our rivers. One tiny drop of water may be insignificant, but when all of these tiny droplets accumulate, they collectively grow into a puddle, a pond, even a river. Every drop, every action, has a ripple that comes along with it, and we wish to invite speakers that want to speak about their small steps, their little drops that they have constantly produced to create their own river for the community. Join us in an empowering night where we can share and celebrate the knowledge that we have produced as the city of Coquitlam.

Glen Pine Pavillion
1200 Glen Pine Court
Coquitlam, British Columbia, V3B 2P7
Canada

Helia Moghaddam

Helia is a grade 11 student studying in the International Baccalaureate Program at Port Moody Secondary School. She is an avid debater and Model United Nations delegate who has always been passionate about politics and government. However, her true interest lies in identifying necessity and problem-solving. Helia traces her earliest memory of extending love and compassion to others as early as 10 years old, when she created a movement called “Helia’s Helping Hands for Haiti”, raising funds for countries facing the detriment of level 5+ earthquakes. Furthermore, Helia’s purposeful passion was continued throughout middle school by running the leadership forces and creating “A stand in honor of Nepal”. Today, she is collaborating with educators in SD43 to implement “The Youth Development Program”, where the goal is to create a path to guide youth through a number of highschool struggles, such as mental health, substance abuse and peer pressure. Alas, Helia is honored for the opportunity to spread knowledge and passion about the domino effect in our youth and the importance of working together to collectively solve these issues in order to make a difference in the lives of so many students in need of assistance.

Kourosh Shahbazi

Kourosh is a seasoned athlete who competes at the provincial level in swimming as well as being a star achiever of the Collingwood school athletics program as a dedicated member of the basketball, soccer and swim teams. In addition to possessing an avid passion for both athletics and academics, he also excels in the realm of public speaking and leadership. Some of his experiences include serving as a house captain on his school’s student leadership team and participating in IISPSC, an international public speaking competition. The core focus of his speech will be based on immigration and culture and its affect on the community. As the son of two first generation Iranian immigrants, he has been able to witness first hand from his family and relatives the struggles of immigration and its effect on culture and impact on society. He is looking forward to sharing reflections and interests about a topic that is of profound relevance in today’s multicultural society.