A New Reality

I hope that everyone is staying safe and healthy during these uncertain times. First, I would like to thank Drew Blanchette ’96 for his leadership and guidance of the RSGCAA over the last four years. The association is in a better place thanks to Drew’s vision and hard work. While my first few months as the Association president haven’t looked exactly as I anticipated they would, I’m proud to be a part of such an incredible community – one that shines through in difficult moments and sticks together even when we can’t actually be together.

Despite a difficult year, we have continued to push forward with our RSGCAA 2025 Strategic Plan deliverables. The Marketing Communications Committee finalized a multi-year communications plan. Our Mentorship Committee formalized its program and looks forward to launching it in the coming months. We also recently rolled out a pilot mental health initiative for a group of university alumni.

The RSGCAA Executive team has been working hard throughout the fall to continue bringing events to the greater RSGC community. On October 27, we had 18 alumni mentors and six alumni facilitators join the Grade 12s in our Speed Mentoring event. Although we had to run this event virtually this year, we had a great turnout and lots of amazing advice from the Georgians who are currently in university. On October 29, we continued our Knight Series with Neil Hetherington ’91, CEO of Daily Bread Food Bank, speaking on poverty and food insecurity. Neil spoke to us about the Daily Bread Food Bank’s recently released report, Hunger Lives Here: Risks and Challenges Faced by Food Bank Clients During COVID-19, which details the impact of COVID-19 on food insecurity and food bank use in Toronto.

Sadly, we have had to postpone some of our favourite events, including the Old Boys’ Dinner, the Carol Service Alumni Reception and the Legends Ball Hockey Tournament. We will continue to bring you more virtual events and other ways to engage our amazing community.

The RSGCAA Executive Committee continues to grow. We have added five Georgians to the team: Conor Gordon ’09, Ben Mason ’11, Max Sisam ’06, Andrew Savory ’11 and Rudro Chakrabarti ’10. As always, if you would like to get more involved, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

I look forward to the day that we can all get back together, but in the meantime, stay safe and have a wonderful holiday season. Best,

Eddie Beqaj '08

RSGCAA President

alumni@rsgc.on.ca