Stories of Some of Our Graduates

Hello! My name is Brendon Chan and I graduated from Wesley Christian Academy in 2006. I joined the school in the 2nd grade where I learned to pursue a life in theatre and entertainment, thanks to Brian and Michelle Rawlins, who directed our Christmas plays. I graduated with a BA in Business Admin with a concentration of Risk Management and Insurance. I currently reside in California, USA, and worked at Disneyland for six years. Currently I work in the field of insurance, helping people who are injured on the job, return back to work.

I remember all the teachers that willingly and lovingly invested in my life, gave me a Christian foundation, let me soar in my talents, help me discover who I am, etc. I want to thank Mrs. Goodyear, who walked with me and my class during our adolescent years. (Now that I have experience with kids, I really do appreciate the time and effort the teachers at Wesley spent with us.) I was looking back on memory lane and when I stumbled back onto the school’s website. I remember all the good times I had with my classmates, as our class only fluctuated a few people as the years passed.

Moving to a new country and environment wasn’t easy and I want to thank Wesley for giving me the tools to stand my ground and live the way God wants us to live. It really was a place I felt like I could call home, and revisiting the website brought back really great memories I had of the school and living in the Markham area.

Sending your child to Wesley could be one of the best choices a parent could make. Small class sizes, personal attention from teachers, a strong sense of community and armed with good values to help your child grow up in the world.

My name is Sharon Ngai. I graduated from Wesley Christian Academy in 2006. Since then, I have attended Unionville High School and graduated from the Arts York Visual Arts program there. During my time in high school, I developed a deep love for working with people; it was during those years that God was developing my heart for a call to children’s ministry. That call led me to pursue a double major in Honours Religion & Theology and Social Work at Redeemer University College. Having recently graduated from Redeemer, I am pursuing a Masters of Divinity with a concentration in Children’s Ministry in the near future. Ultimately, I hope to be working in children’s ministry at a church. I have passion for issues surrounding local poverty and community development, and I constantly strive to bring these passions together in my ministry work.

My time at Wesley has had an evident impact on my life. The dedication of the teachers coupled with the class sizes created a sense of community among teachers and students which is invaluable. To this day, I am still in contact with teachers and students from Wesley, and I have surprised even myself at how deeply rooted these relationships are. There are many things I learned as a Wesley student that were evidently unique as I went on into high school and later, university. There are the little things; for example, to this day, I receive compliments on my handwriting to which I always accredit my Wesley teachers’ commitment to crafting my cursive letters until they were just right. There are, however, the bigger things as well. At Wesley, I was encouraged to always strive to reach my highest potential. The standards to which I was put to the test were high but never unattainable. My teachers invested time and work in order that I might realize that I am capable to do more than even I myself could ever imagine. I have carried this strong work ethic with me through high school, university and the work place, and it has allowed me to stretch myself in each of those places. Most importantly, the staff and teachers at Wesley played an important part in helping lay a strong Christian foundation I’m my life. Without it, I would not find myself where I am today.

My name is Savoula Stylianou and I graduated from Wesley Christian Academy in 2006. I was at WCA from grades one through eight and graduated as my class valedictorian. I attended Peoples Christian Academy for grade nine and Markville Secondary School for grades 10 through 12. I went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and Masters Degree in Religious Studies at Queen’s University with a focus on Early Christianity. In 2018, I completed a postgraduate certificate in Professional Writing and Communications from Humber Polytechnic. I’ve held senior marketing and communications roles in Toronto and Kingston and worked as a college instructor. I’ve also been blessed to hold positions on and off at Wesley over the years in the Early Learning Centre.

I am currently a teacher candidate at Tyndale University, a path indelibly shaped by my positive growth experiences at WCA.

My experience with Wesley is something I will forever remember with a grateful heart. When my parents first brought me in to see Mrs. Serio when I was six years old, we had come from another school where the focus was on creative learning rather than academic skills. My parents were told I was being held back from the first grade due to social awkwardness and limited academic abilities. Mrs. Serio had other thoughts about that. Within three weeks of summer schooling, she had me reading and writing at the same level as my peers, and I was able to successfully go on to the first grade. The rest is history.

At WCA, I learned to cultivate my love of reading and hone my writing skills which served me well in journalism and communications positions over the years. More importantly, I was able to learn from staff and faculty about the importance of kindness, empathy, educational rigor and the core tenets of Jesus’ word. The reason I want to become a teacher is to honour the teachers at Wesley who made a lasting positive impact on my life, starting with my first reading teacher: Mrs. Serio.

If there is one thing I am sure of, it is that Mrs. Serio and the rest of the staff at Wesley believed in me enough to get me to where I am today. More than that, they taught me how to believe in myself, and gave me the confidence and the tools to be able to create goals and strive to reach them, showing me that anything is possible if I put my mind to it. My growth in faith at the school was just as strong as my growth in academics. Returning to Wesley even today is such a joy because I have connections to the teachers who have each shaped who I am as a person. Both my mom and I have maintained close connections to the school all these many years on. I cannot think of a better place for me to have grown up than at Wesley and it is the formative years I spent there that I look back upon so fondly. It is those memories, friendships, and life lessons that I will take with me as I continue in my academic and personal pursuits.