Alumni Profiles

After graduating from NJC in 2014, Samantha Stuart headed to the University of Toronto on a full academic scholarship to study Materials Science & Engineering, with a minor in Bioengineering. She has spent the past 12 months working as a Quality Engineering intern at Synaptive Medical in Toronto, helping to develop robotic and software system to assist in neurological procedures. Recently, Samantha was also a speaker at TedX Collingwood, where she spoke about “The ‘E’ Word: Why Engineering Needs All of Us”.

“I don’t want to look back on the year at Neuchâtel Junior College and say it was the best year of my life. It’s the year that inspired me to live the rest of my life just like it. I want every year to get better and better. I want this year to be the year that turned me into a person that appreciates every year, and every single day within it. I want every year to change. I want to live my life like I did this year.” – Charlie Cornish ’14

After graduating from NJC, Charlie travelled to the Indian Himalaya on a mountaineering expedition with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and then moved to Hokkaido, Japan, where he worked for Black Diamond Lodge & Tours and Hokkaido Backcountry Club.

Charlie currently lives in Revelstoke, British Columbia. He is a professional member of the Canadian Avalanche Association and the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG). While completing an Adventure Guide diploma, with a focus on backcountry ski guiding and mountaineering, at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, Charlie is working at Revelstoke Mountain Resort as part of the ski patrol team. He says that NJC instilled in him a strong ability to self-reflect, which has helped him make his own path by learning what he truly loves to do and what he wants to achieve in his life.

As an avid skier, Charlie’s most treasured memory from his time at NJC was skiing around Grindelwald - a classic Swiss village whose authenticity and beautiful peaks blew him away. Charlie’s favourite part of day-to-day Swiss life was exploring areas in Neuchâtel and wandering through some of the local trails and hills with friends. He also enjoyed the food in Switzerland and living in Cortaillod with Mme Kohler, who would joke that she cooked Italian recipes with French ingredients in German sized portions!

In the future, Charlie would like to continue working in the outdoor adventure tourism industry and also, become an ACMG ski guide - an arduous process that he is currently undertaking alongside his other professional and educational endeavours.

Sarah graduated from Trinity College at the University of Toronto with an Honours Bachelor of Science, double majoring in Psychology and Ethics, Society & Law.

Jerry Li will graduate a dual major in Government and Economics, with a sequence in Gender and Sexuality Studies from Claremont McKenna College in California.

Jerry credits NJC for equipping him with a sense of adventure, and says that one of his favourite things about day-to-day Swiss life was the reliable transportation system, which allowed him to be spontaneous and adventurous.

Since his time at NJC, Jerry has served as a Political and Economic Affairs Intern at the U.S. State Department through the Consulate General of the United States of America in Toronto, as well as a Foreign Policy and Diplomacy Services Intern at the Consulate General of Canada in Seattle. His passion for Model United Nations remains strong, after participating in BERMUN in Berlin and NEVSKYMUN in St. Petersburg at NJC. He has continued to compete at conferences at the university-level and moderated a committee at NHSMUN 2015 in NYC held at the UN Headquarters.

Jerry is an incoming Associate Management Consultant at Bain & Company’s San Francisco office, and plans to pursue a Masters in International Migration and Public Policy at the London School of Economics.

Eden completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of St. Andrews in the UK. Her decision to attend university in Scotland was largely due to the international experience she gained during her year at NJC, which made her comfortable with stepping outside her comfort zone and exploring new things. The year at Neuchâtel Junior was not only an amazing educational experience, but also opened up the world to her.

For Eden, the best parts of day-to-day life in Switzerland were the cheese, the chocolate and seeing 72 of the greatest people she knows every single day at school. Her entire year is a treasured memory, especially the opportunities to travel with friends or just spend time with her classmates by the lake. Eden lived with the Cossentino family in Colombier and says that she will never forget how much fun she had exploring the village castle with her three housemates, and also, her Madame’s incredible lasagne!

Eden will be starting her Masters degree in Social Work at Yeshiva University in New York this June.

Brogan graduated from the University of Oxford with a BA Jurisprudence (Law and European Law Studies).

He lived with the Ferrantis in Colombier and says that they treated him and his three housemates like sons. Brogan fondly remembers the lively dinner conversations, and how comfortable and supported he felt, not only with his pension family, but with the NJC staff, students and community. He credits his time in Switzerland for opening his mind to other people, and their perspectives and ways of life. One of his favourite parts of Swiss life and culture was having Friday night fondues on a terrace and people watching - a picturesquely European experience!

As a gap year student at NJC, Brogan says that he was able to cater his education to exactly what he needed to succeed at university. He says that the courses he followed at NJC inspired him to take courses on international trade, carriage of goods by sea and taxation law at Oxford.

Brogan will be attending the University of British Columbia this September and pursuing a Masters in Law.

Carys specialized in Political Science at the University of Toronto.

She says that her most treasured memories from her time at NJC were the simple, quiet times spent with friends. She loved having friends sleep over and having breakfast together on her pension's terrace overlooking the lake and the Alps. She loved having dinner and practicing her french with her pension family every evening, Mme Schlittler and M. Shirvani, and the freshly baked tresse au beurre that her pension Madame picked up every Sunday morning.

The culture of punctuality in Switzerland meant that Carys was always on time - an aspect of Swiss day-to-day life that she loved and misses today, along with waking up the spectacular lake and mountain views, taking the bus every day with familiar faces and attending classes taught by who she describes as the smartest, funniest and most interesting teachers.

NJC was completely unfamiliar territory for Carys and she is grateful today for the experience that forced her to figure out who she wanted to be and what path she wanted to take. She says that there is no place like NJC, where dozens of boys and girls are welcomed each September and bade goodbye as men and women in June.

Carys has been working in the Minister of Energy’s office for the Ontario Government for the past three years and will be working on campaigns leading up to the election in June 2018. Carys is excited to further explore the political realm in the future.