Branksome Receives Historic $5-Million Gift: iCAST Building to Be Named for Karen Jurjevich
Branksome Hall News
Stepping Stones: Honouring a headstart on STEM education
When Senior Kindergarten student Anna Sophia was just three years old, on holiday in Florida, her family spent a rainy afternoon in a science museum.
“Four hours later we were tired but we had to bribe her out of there with ice cream,” says her father, Khalil Maalouf. “Anna Sophia has shown interest in science and, in general, girls don’t get encouragement in STEM from such an early age.”
And that’s why, after just three months as a Branksome family, Khalil and Iuliana Gheorghe are honouring their daughter’s pending journey through Branksome Hall by inscribing a Stepping Stone in iCAST in her name.
Consider that, decades from now, Anna Sophia will be a visiting alum, proud of her named, lasting legacy in a space that invested so successfully in her future STEM-related pursuits.
Iuliana values the opportunity to invest in students’ futures that will contribute to long-term success. “We're happy to be part of such a project,” she says, “and we hope this will enhance the educational resources and opportunities and create a positive learning environment that also builds community.”
Anna Sophia loves her first foray into robotics and “inventing things.” She can also spend 16 minutes watching a YouTube video on plankton, “which is hours in SK-student years,” says her dad. “It’s wonderful that iCAST will be a place that takes early interest in and provides exposure to STEM and sets up students to carry that through the entire JK-Grade 12 journey.”
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LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We wish to acknowledge this land on which Branksome operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and go to school on this land.
Setting the new standard for girls' education everywhere takes collective action. From all of us.
