Surrey Board of Trade Presents: Top 25 Under 25

Kwantlen boasts three students/graduates amongst the honourees.

Each year the Surrey Board of Trade recognizes 25 Surrey residents under the age of 25 who have displayed remarkable initiative and leadership through their businesses or communities. This year’s award reception was held on May 28 at the Eaglequest Golf Course, and among those youth celebrated were three of Kwantlen’s own—Keri Van Gerven, Calvin Tiu and Rick Kumar.

Shortly after graduating, Keri Van Gerven was offered an internship in the President of Kwantlen’s office, something she considers, perhaps, her greatest achievement of yet. “I am proud [to be] part of the team in the President’s office,” she says. “I work with a group of committed, engaged and knowledgeable individuals who are all dedicated to improving the experience of students at KPU.”

In her spare time, Van Gerven also volunteers as the Borderfest Queen through the Viking Lodge, an opportunity that enabled her to spend time with her grandmother and to learn more about her Norwegian background.

She emphasizes that it was not “one major accomplishment, but a stream of successes” that led her to be declared one of the Surrey’s “Top 25 Under 25.” While she has her own skill and dedication to thank, Van Gerven attributes much of her success to her parents for their continuous support and encouragement in her pursuit of higher education.

The remaining two honourees, Calvin “Kalvonix” Tiu and Rick “Big Love” Kumar, created an album together last year entitled The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, and toured a number of high schools rapping their work and lecturing students. Their music even led them to take the stage at the Word Vancouver festival in the fall of 2014. This success was due, in part, to the ongoing support from two Kwantlen English professors, Sue Ann Cairns and Greg Chan, as well as a sponsorship from Coca-Cola.

Tiu is an arts major who has made it his business to creatively incorporate music into as many aspects of life as he can. An experienced rapper with dozens of albums released since he began recording in high school, Tiu claims that Kwantlen has provided him with the “platforms needed” to exercise his passion and creativity. These platforms range from performances in place of essay assignments to rapping his responses to in-class questions.

The young rapper also manages a bursary designated for students who are not only in need of financial aid but also have a GPA lower than 3.0. “Through experience we believe that students with a lower GPA are often overlooked,” he says, “and we want to show them that they not only belong, but can also find success inside and outside the academic world.”

In addition to working alongside his rap partner, Kumar contributes to a number of other initiatives including raising awareness for a suicide prevention program. He became passionate about this cause when he himself felt the sting of loss from suicide while working as a teacher’s assistant. Speaking of his work with the program Kumar says, “mental health issues aren’t preventable, but suicide is.”

Kumar believes he was chosen to appear with the other 24 honourees because the Surrey Board of Trade “see someone that will one day make the world a better place, and in truth I see that too.” While he attributes his awards to his time and dedication, Kumar believes his success would not have been possible without his mother, saying “the awards may come in my name, but they’re always for her.”

An advocate for change and community-building, Kumar wanted to share a final thought to inspire others to commit themselves, much in the same way he has: “One of the reasons I’ve been so successful in my life is because I didn’t let people’s perceptions of me change me. I used how they viewed me as a benchmark, and I aimed higher. I learned that how I viewed myself was the only view that mattered.”