Shad Alum shares the importance of Black Leadership and how it shapes his STEAM goals
As Vice President of the Black Student Association at his high school in Brampton, Ontario, Adrian McCalla has spent weeks preparing for Black History Month. Celebrating the contributions of Black Canadians to the country and the world is something he tries to do every day, but having the opportunity every February to celebrate Black Excellence with his peers and community is something that fills him with pride.
“I love being able to share the beauty of Black culture. There’s so much to it, it’s very multifaceted, but because of stereotypes in media, people might overlook important aspects of what it means to be Black. It’s great to be able to invite others in to celebrate and learn what my Blackness means to me.”
Sharing his perspective as a Black student is important to Adrian and knowing the importance of that perspective is one of his most cherished takeaways from his experience at Shad’s Thompson Rivers University campus last summer.
“Shad was amazing, there were so many awesome students. It was an environment that really let us all learn from each other and our different strengths and backgrounds. Not just the students, but the staff too, just a lot of different viewpoints which was awesome.”
Adrian learned about Shad during a session at the Lifelong Leadership Institute (LLI), one of Shad’s important community partners working to uplift and inspire underrepresented communities. With the goal of empowering Black youth to take the lead, LLI has helped Adrian develop his skills as a young leader and creative thinker alongside other outstanding Black students.
“Like Shad, LLI’s really a community. We do sessions on Saturdays throughout the school year, developing leadership skills and preparing for the future. There’s a lot of career sessions that we do. It’s a wonderful program for bringing talented Black students together.”
Elevating the social, technological and cultural contributions of Black Canadians is something Adrian looks forward to each year. He and the other members of the Black Student Association plan performances to showcase different aspects of their culture and heritage through things like dance and music, as well as performing the Black National Anthem. Adrian is a poet, sharing his culture and what it means to him through the spoken word.
“I wrote a poem in grade nine called ‘My Blackness Is More Than You See’. The poem was trying to identify common Black stereotypes and break them down and talk about what else there is to me that makes up my Black identity. I like to highlight the resilience of the culture, that despite all of the past historical influences of colonizers and racism, we’re still here, we’re still ourselves.”
Adrian draws a lot of strength from his family, who every day keep him connected to the heritage that’s so important to who he is. His grandparents are proud Jamaican immigrants and have instilled in the family a love of the vibrant traditions and culture of their Caribbean roots.
“The Jamaican culture is very present in our household and has been since I was young. The food we eat, like soups, curried goat and oxtail, the music we listen to…even the way we speak! The accent and Patois are mostly my grandparents, but we all chime in sometimes for fun.”
Adrian’s family has been a huge supporter of his STEAM goals, encouraging him to pursue his desire to have an impact and reinforcing the value of his perspective.
“In science generally, you don’t always see that many Black faces, particularly in the environmental sector, which is my big interest. I think in terms of perspectives and past experiences, having people of different races and different backgrounds is important so that everyone’s voice is heard, and decisions being made consider everyone’s experience.”
Adrian plans to bring his unique perspective to the Environmental Sciences, a STEAM field he is passionate about and plans to pursue at university. “Minority groups can be particularly impacted by climate change and it’s important that we have a seat at the table.”
When he arrived at Shad and discovered that the summer’s Design Challenge theme tasked the Shads with working on solutions to increase Canadians’ access to green energy, a problem related to climate change, he was over the moon.
“When my Shad instructor, Connor Nelson, put the Design Challenge topic on screen, I thought ‘this couldn’t be any more perfect for what I want to do in the future.’ And then all of the different workshops and lectures that we had to learn more about climate and the ways we can use STEAM to address environmental problems was just the icing on the cake. I have a whole workbook full of my notes!”
His time at Shad connecting with likeminded peers and diving into the world of postsecondary has gotten Adrian really excited about his future studies and what it will feel like to be living his academic dreams at university. He looks forward to continuing to pursue his passions while representing the Black community with pride and optimism, bringing others along where he can.
“I hope Black History Month encourages communities to listen to Black voices and appreciate the culture and the people. I love having the opportunity to share my experiences with others and help people to appreciate the beauty of Black identity and culture. Cause that’s what it is: beautiful.”
