One of Okotoks’ brightest has continued to receive recognition, after receiving the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Citizenship Award on July 23.
The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Citizenship Award honours eight students each year who have contributed to their communities through outstanding citizenship, leadership, public service and voluntary endeavour.
A Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School alumnus, Arzina Jaffer has certainly been recognized in the past for her dedication to her community, after receiving the Premier’s Citizenship Award last year in addition to the full-ride Chancellor’s Club Scholarship at the University of Calgary.
“It’s a pretty cool experience, I’m very grateful,” she said of receiving the Queen's Golden Jubilee Citizenship Award. “I’m pretty excited about it.”
Her most recent award came with a medal and a $5,000 scholarship, which she said would help her invest her time to her university research projects.
“But I think the award itself, it’s not just about me: it’s about the individuals around me that helped me get to this point,” she said. “One person can’t do all of this by themselves, there’s so many people like my teachers, my family, my parents especially.
“It’s honestly so great to be in an environment where everyone is so encouraging of you and helping you with everything.”
Having attended STS since Grade 7, Jaffer said the school has been a key support for her along her journey, speaking to the sense of community fostered by the school.
“Honestly, it’s been such a great experience for me,” she said. “The school has been so supportive with all the things I wanted to take on and also keep my academics as the number one priority.”
That supportive community is what Jaffer thinks has brought her to where she is now, after being nominated by her teachers to receive the Premier’s Citizenship Award in her final year at STS.
During her time at STS, she participated in several volunteer opportunities, such as the Tudor Manor senior home in Okotoks, and the Black Diamond Hospital.
“This was such an incredible opportunity because the individuals I was working with had moderate dementia,” she said. “So the experience allowed me to see the effects of isolation, but also allowed me to see how transformative community and music and connection is, and I think that is beautiful.”
Passionate about science, Jaffer was also involved with the 2050 Project, Alberta Innovates Heritage Youth Researcher Program, and the Sanofi Biogenius Canada competition, where she was challenged to carry out groundbreaking research projects in the field of biotechnology.
But one of the most impactful volunteer opportunities she had was volunteering with six-year-old girls in a Lego League Jr. Robotics Challenge.
“I’m really passionate about science and I’ve always been passionate about science, and I am so thankful for the environment of STS for encouraging me to be in science, because in many places in the world, science isn’t something that girls are often encouraged to be in, especially in robotics or coding,” she said. “Having that opportunity to share my passions with these younger girls was just so fulfilling.”
At 19 years old, Jaffer has completed her first year of her Bachelor of Health Sciences degree with a major in biomedical sciences at the U of C, and is currently completing a summer research studentship at Dr. Jeff Biernaskie’s Lab, focusing on tissue morphogenesis and regenerative medicine.
“Even now, my summer research is in bioinformatics, so it’s in coding, and it’s something different and I love sharing that with younger students and encouraging them to pursue or gain knowledge in that field,” she said.
Receiving the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Citizenship Award was punctuated by the opportunity to have a private lunch with the other recipients and the Honourable Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, Lois Mitchell.
“Lunch was great, obviously, but the more important aspect of it was that she wanted to get to know us,” said Jaffer. “She gave us advice and allowed us to ask questions about her role, her experiences in life.”
Jaffer said she loved Her Honour’s response to her question about the advice she would give to young advocates, which was to be genuine and truly caring.
A highlight was hearing about Her Honour potentially offending Prince Philip during a meet-and-greet by specifying her role as Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, Canada. The next day, while having tea with the Queen, she brought a painting of Alberta as an apology for offending the Queen’s husband—too which the Queen burst out laughing.
“That was a funny story,” said Jaffer. “Just having the opportunity to meet her, and her wanting to get to know us, was just incredible.”
The other recipients of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Citizenship Award for 2018-2019 were: Kassidy Gerhardi, from Cochrane; Garrett Gerrard, from Parkland County; Sydney Hucal, from Red Deer County; Fajar Khan, from Fort McMurray; Andrew Li, from Edmonton; Hope Roberts, from Turner Valley; and Tim Zekai Wu, from Calgary.
