A Light & Bright Return for Careers Day

This year, there were changes to regular deadlines in my office. Lo and behold, I could finally shuffle things around and take the afternoon off to present at my first Careers Day, this past October.

That day, I made my way to the school shortly before noon, approaching on Alexandra Street and recalling the many times I had circled the block in my white t-shirt and maroon sweats during P.E. class. As I did so, I instinctively looked for the two stone pillars that Jessica Leung ‘97 and I posed on for the “Editors’ Notes” in our Grade 12 yearbook. To my surprise, what commanded my view instead were large, modern glass windows that I definitely did not remember being there. To be honest, I felt a little disoriented for a moment, and had it not been for the carefully placed stained glass window in each of these large windows, I would have undoubtedly felt quite lost.

I had known that significant renovations had taken place since I had last wandered LFA’s halls, but I was still taken aback at how great the school looked. Yet, it wasn’t the newness of it all that impressed me, but, instead, how much of the old buildings had been conscientiously integrated into the new. From the images of the old convent on the glass wall visible from the sunlit reception and the artful arrangement of stained glass windows saved from the old buildings to the salvaged wooden floorboards in the boardroom and restored fireplace in the library, the school had clearly been modernized yet still embodied the heritage and spirit of the LFA I had known.

Shortly after I arrived, I was greeted by my former classmate and friend Bettina Sy ‘97. She led me to the boardroom, where I had the chance to meet and mingle with my fellow presenters over a lovely buffet lunch. It was great seeing familiar faces and catching up with fellow alumnae and staff, many of whom I had not seen for quite some time, as well as making new acquaintances.

Yet of all the faces I saw that day, without a doubt, the person that I will remember most is Grade 12 student Shirvin (I did not ask her for her last name) who cheerily led me to the classroom where I was to speak. As she led me down the halls, lined with girls hanging out during a break, I vividly remember Shirvin saying her name while at the same time pointing to the letters embroidered on her white and maroon, button-up cardigan. It made me smile to see the cardigan, very much like my own white and maroon cardigan that I still put on from time to time, even if just around the house. Of course, mine has “Grad 97” stitched on the left arm instead of Shirvin’s 2012. I can hardly believe it’s taken me 15 years to come back!

We arrived at the classroom, and I knew it well. It was Mrs. Palaniak’s Chemistry class, where I recall sitting around chatting animatedly with my friends about the current “It” TV show before the start of class. It was also the classroom forever captured in the photos of my friends curling each other’s hair before our graduation ceremony.

As I stood at the front of the class (with a laptop, which seemed very weird to me as laptops were not yet ubiquitous while I attended LFA), I spoke to the first of four groups of students from Grade 10 to 12 about my own career and my advice for them. As I did so, I slowly recalled what it was like to be a student of their age. In my case, I did not even know that my current job even existed.

Looking into their faces sitting in the classroom in front of me, I truly remembered what it was like to be a young woman, their age, with a lifetime ahead of me. It was then that it hit me just how many years had passed since my time at LFA, how far I have come, and how much my time at LFA has helped me become the person I am today. I must say that it was an illuminating experience, and as the years carry, I know now that I will continue to remember LFA with an increasingly tender fondness, realizing what a great opportunity it was to attend high school there.

Now that I’ve been back, I plan on doing so again soon and encourage all alumnae to do the same—to return to the halls of LFA—lighter, brighter, yet somehow always the same.

Anna Jubilo ‘97 is a Career Educator specializing in careers for students in Humanities, Social Sciences, and Library, Archival, and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia, Arts Co-op Program.