Tanya Walker is the Keynote Speaker at McMaster Undergraduate Academic Achievement Awards

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[Music]
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welcome to the 2021 degroot school of
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business undergraduate awards ceremony i
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would like to introduce our special
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guest speaker tanya walker
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tanya is an award-winning litigation
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lawyer she is managing partner at walker
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law and currently adventure of the law
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society of ontario she has the
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distinction of being the first black
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female venture elected from toronto as
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well as one of the youngest sitting
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ventures
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among her recognitions she is the
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recipient of the 2018 women’s business
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enterprise of the year award
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tanya is also a proud degree alumna of
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the become o2 program thank you for
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joining us today tanya over to you
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hello everyone my name is tanya walker
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and i’m honored to be your keynote
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speaker for the academic achievement
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awards
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first and foremost i would like to
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congratulate the recipients of the
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academic achievement awards and the
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members of the dean’s honors list
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i know how hard you have worked for this
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and i’m excited to celebrate your
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achievements today alongside with your
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friends and your family
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today i will speak with you about how i
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continue to achieve success even during
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a global pandemic and what i’ve learned
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since i’ve completed my studies at the
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group school of business almost 20 years
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ago
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specifically i will highlight the
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importance of building relationships and
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giving back
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before i begin i would like to thank
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marley annette from our law firm for
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helping me prepare to prepare this
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presentation i would also like to thank
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kelly rabbit chris fichek and cecilia
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angel from mcmaster university for your
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assistance as well
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so before i begin you may be wondering
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who’s tanya walker
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i was born and reside in toronto to
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parents that immigrated from jamaica my
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mother is a retired nurse and my father
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is a retired technician
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i spent most of my formative years in
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ajax and my parents continue to reside
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there today
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i am the first person in my family to
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attend university and consequently to
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obtain a post-graduate degree
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i’m a proud alumnus of the school of
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business where i received an honors
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bachelor of commerce degree with a minor
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in economics in 2002
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i also obtained my bachelor of laws
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degree from osgoode hall law school in
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2005 and was called to the bar in 2006.
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i moved on to practice at two bay street
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firms before i opened my own law firm
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walker law which was also originally
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located update on bay street
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i started the firm with a part-time law
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clerk and now we employ almost eight ten
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employees with me moyer to join us next
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year
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the this year the firms celebrated its
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11th anniversary
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on the slide you can see a picture of me
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that i took for a magazine
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shortly after i opened the firm
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and at walker law i practice as a trial
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lawyer i often wear those ropes and
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assist clients with their civil disputes
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what this means is if there are disputes
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over money clients can hire our firm to
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resolve that matter and if that matter
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cannot be resolved by settling we try to
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go to court and get an order from a
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judge often i receive the opportunity to
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share my legal knowledge by appearing as
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a legal analyst on television such as
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ctv
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cbc and cp 24.
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one of my proudest professional
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accomplishments is becoming the first
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black female venture from toronto in the
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now
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224 year history of the law society and
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i was re-elected in
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2019 the law society regulates the legal
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profession and serves to protect the
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public by creating policies and
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procedures that govern lawyers and
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paralegals
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every four years the law society hosts
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an election for ventures where the
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lawyer ventures must receive a number of
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votes in order to become elected
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adventures like a board of director at
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the law society
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so to me receiving almost 3 000 votes in
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each election to become
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and continue as a venture shows me that
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my peers respect and appreciate my
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efforts to assist the public
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now going into my personal achievements
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two of my personal treatments that i’m
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most proud of is being a wife to my
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husband daniel stoykovic he immigrated
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to canada over 20 years ago from the
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former yugoslavia and also being a
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mother to our son alexander who is
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almost three years old
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my career first started when i attended
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mcmaster university when i first
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attended mcmaster way back in 1997 i
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resided at moulton hall which was an
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all-female residence after moulton i
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lived at bates
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when i attended mcmaster i worked
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part-time at the radio station cfmu in
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the role of marketing
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after third year i had the pleasure of
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participating in a 16 16-month
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internship with celestica which was a
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company started by ibm
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i completed a few more courses during
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the 16-month internship which meant that
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i finished school in january instead of
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june
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despite this i decided to graduate in
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june so i can graduate with my friends
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after graduation i was fortunate enough
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to receive a position at the head office
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of petro canada as a management trainee
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from january until i started law school
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in september 2002
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i say i was fortunate to receive this
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position because i participated in
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on-campus interviews around september 11
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2001 which we now refer to as 9 11.
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as a result of the tragedy tragedy in
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the united states there was a sudden
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uncertain job market and many job offers
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were put on hold
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thinking back to that unfortunate time
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to today
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where we are experiencing a global
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pandemic that also provides for an
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uncertain job climate
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i realize what has helped me as a person
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and as a business owner persevere during
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those uncertain times
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and that’s the relationships that were
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founded on giving back and volunteering
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so before i dive into the importance of
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building relationships i wanted to bring
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your attention to this picture of me as
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a little girl and the locals on the side
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some of you may recognize these logos
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but what they all have in common is that
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our firm represents
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has represented or has been vetted to be
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an approved supplier of legal services
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to represent these companies
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reflecting on how i started as a child
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with no connections in the world of
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business to now representing the
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businesses
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that you see on the screen
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i started from nothing more than just
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what you have
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all have now which are academic
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credentials
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what i found that is just as important
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as the academic credentials is building
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relationships which i managed to do by
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giving back
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philanthropy is a form of giving back to
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describe philanthropy i will rely on a
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quote from the founder of ebay pierre
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omadar he explains that philanthropy
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translates from the latin word to love
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for humanity
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it is a desire to improve the state of
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humanity and the world
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to him
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philanthropy differs from charity
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because charity addresses immediate
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suffering philanthropy requires us to
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think and address the root causes of our
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problems so that we can prevent a
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tomorrow of future suffering so you may
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be wondering with your busy schedule and
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with grades being such a high priority
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how do you even find the time to give
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back and build relationships
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what is the benefit to giving back
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one way giving back helps you is that it
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feels good to help others and others
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may appreciate and recognize you for
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your hard work i remember experiencing
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this feeling when i was a board member
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on the mcmaster alumni association
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in 2017 i received the young alumni arch
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award from mcmaster university the young
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alumni arch award recognizes mcmaster’s
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most recent graduates
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for their unique and interesting
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contributions to society their local
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community and to mcmaster university
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so when the pandemic first started in
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march 2020 the court system was put on
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hold for almost three months
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and during this time we saw constant
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changes in the news
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court setting new precedents and new
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court procedures were created to address
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the health and safety concerns of the
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public even i had trouble keeping up
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with the constant changes in the law
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as a result i appreciate that others may
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need our help as legal professionals
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to share our knowledge about these
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changes
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also with the court closures and my
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knowledgeable knowledge as a trial
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lawyer i knew that approximately 95
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of my cases settle and i appreciate that
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knowing how to negotiate a settlement
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was an important skill especially during
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the pandemic
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i also appreciated the limitations of
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the reach of our firm and that there may
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be people that required our help
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so due to my continued relationship with
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mcmaster university
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we agreed to host a webinar for mcmaster
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on negotiations this webinar was very
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successful as almost 700 people
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registered
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so some of you may be wondering we are
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in a pandemic how do i even consider
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giving back or having the resources to
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give back during this time
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what is the link between giving back and
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forming relationships
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you can start by sharing your knowledge
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with others all of you have a special
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skill that can be used to help others
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for those of you in the accounting
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stream you can use this to teach
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financial management
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for those of you who are interested in
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marketing you can teach a webinar on how
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to market a product for people who have
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just started a business
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i understand that there have been many
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job losses throughout this period of
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time
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another way you can help is by donating
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to those in need
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on the slide you will see a picture of
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me volunteering in puerto rico a few
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years ago after we did a book drive for
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a school located in an at-risk
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neighborhood
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for those of you who may have limited
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funds
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there may be items you have that you may
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no longer need you can donate these
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items through facebook community groups
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or coordinating a pickup from your porch
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third and last on the slide
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make your spending count
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many small businesses had to shut down
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permanently or close temporarily
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maybe make your spending count by
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purchasing from those businesses who
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experienced having their drawers shut
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the work you do through volunteering
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allows you to build relationships with
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other people
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for example
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through my volunteer work i built a
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relationship with an individual who’s
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connected to world leaders
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because of our relationship i was
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invited to meet our prime minister
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justin trudeau four days after i
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delivered our son
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and the former first lady of the united
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states michelle obama
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just being in the presence of these
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leaders gave me a sense of energy and
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excitement to pursue my own goals
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i wouldn’t have had these opportunities
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to meet with these leaders if i didn’t
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build relationships with others
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lastly when you build relationships with
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others they may provide you with
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business opportunities you otherwise
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wouldn’t have had
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most of the files that i worked on were
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sent to me by people who i’ve built
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relationships with through volunteering
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the reason why i have a picture of me on
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the television station cp 24
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is because i was asked by an anchor to
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appear on the show due to my work as a
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venture
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before becoming a trial lawyer i was
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terrified of public speaking however
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through giving back and appearing as a
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legal analyst
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on national television stations it has
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increased my confidence
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our firm has also expanded the scope of
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clients that we represent with
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regarding canadian problems or issues
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that they may have by being recognized
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in the united states
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through my volunteer work i was asked by
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the editor to be on the cover of the
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minority business enterprise magazine
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which is which is a publication
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originating from the united states and
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distributed throughout north america
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so
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the problem i think that you might be
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thinking is where do i even find a time
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it takes a long time to build genuine
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relationships through volunteering that
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reap tangible results
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so if you’re performing well
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academically and you may even also work
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part-time you may find that you have
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little time for anything else
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my response to this is that everyone has
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the same amount of time in a day
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you may want to consider giving back and
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volunteering as an investment into your
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future that will help you become
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successful much like your grades will
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so looking at time management giving
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back teaches you a variety of important
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skills
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including time management consider
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scheduling all parts of your day and
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sticking to that schedule
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this is a skill that i acquired at
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mcmaster and strengthened while i was at
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allison if you start
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to schedule your day hour by hour you
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will see that you have so much more time
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in a day than you think
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balance
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successful people are able to prioritize
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and balance their time they know when to
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work hard but also when to stop
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giving back helps you increase the skill
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because you will need to create more of
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a balance by continuing to achieve good
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grades while having less time to study
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stress
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giving back helps you better manage your
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stress
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circumstances will always be thrown at
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you such as this pandemic and it’s
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important to know how to deal with them
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and juggle multiple balls in the air
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gratitude
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giving back makes you realize how
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fortunate you are and develop an
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appreciation for humility i find that
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likable people are usually ones that are
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humble
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social connection
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one thing many of us are experiencing
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throughout this pandemic is social
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isolation giving back even if it’s by
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attending a meeting by video conference
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helps to increase your interaction with
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others and your happiness through social
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connections you will meet people who
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believe in your charitable contribution
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and may be more likely to buy from you
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or work with you because you have a
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similar belief system
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here is a picture of me with my family
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when i graduated from mcmaster
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university in june 2002
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i put this picture here to demonstrate
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that as you go out into the world it is
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up to you to make decisions that will
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help you and your career
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based on my experience
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it is difficult to call on the
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assistance of others when you need them
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it is much more easier to ask those for
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help if you have a relationship with
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that person or that organization
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i will end my presentation today leaving
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you with a quote from michael lee chen
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who was an alumnus from mcmaster and
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just like my parents was also born in
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jamaica
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in 1970 he came to canada on a
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scholarship program sponsored by the
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jamaican government to study civil
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engineering at mcmaster university and
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he completed his studies there in 1974.
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mr lee chin who became a billionaire
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through businesses that he owns such as
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portland holdings is no stranger to
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giving back as he donated five million
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dollars to mcmaster university to
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establish the michael lee chen and
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family institute for strategic business
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studies at the degroot school of
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business
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and he says
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if people perceive themselves
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as having very little opportunities to
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be fulfilled it cheapens their life and
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outlook the solution is to reverse it
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make sure they know opportunities abound
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and what this quote means to me and how
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this may relate to you
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is that high academic success will
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certainly provide you with opportunities
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however you are likely to obtain more
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opportunities in areas that are unknown
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to you by giving back
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giving back may result in increasing
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your business
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getting a promotion or meeting world
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leaders
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thank you again for listening to me
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speak please feel free to contact me
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regarding any questions that you may
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have or to provide feedback
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congratulations to all of you for all
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that you have achieved
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you tania so much for a wonderful
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message to our students