Taking the next big leap – U of A

Isaac Tyler achieved his personal best at UAlberta. Now he’s ready to help set the bar high for young learners.
November 18, 2015

This year, Isaac Tyler had his best jump ever. A member of the University of Alberta’s varsity track and field team, he took third at the CanWest championships—a big accomplishment. Now he’s ready to take an even bigger jump into life after graduation and a new job as a curriculum support instructor with Edmonton Catholic Schools’ Aboriginal learning services.

Working with youth has been a passion of Isaac’s for several years. In 2010, he took a summer job with the City of Edmonton as a skate park host. “The job was basically just to hang out with the kids, play some cards, skateboard, hand out Band-Aids.” There, he discovered a talent for working with youth, finding it easy to connect with the kids at the park. He wondered whether it would be possible to do more, telling his boss that he wanted to find a way to continue working with youth in his community. She helped him find funding to launch a program in his neighbourhood, Evergreen, a mobile home community with a small-town feel in Edmonton’s northeast.

The community hired Isaac and another youth leader and opened the doors on a Saturday drop-in program for teens. Initially a broader youth program, it eventually evolved to support teen boys specifically as one of a number of programs provided by the Association for Evergreen Youth. With the program open every Saturday from 3–10 p.m., the teens know they can come and go as they like or stay for the whole time.

Read More: https://uofa.ualberta.ca/news-and-events/newsarticles/2015/november/taking-the-next-big-leap