For 22-year-old Braeden Peterson, it isn鈥檛 enough to be the first member of his family to go to university.
Currently studying business in marketing and entrepreneurship at Simon Fraser University 鈥� with a minor in political science 鈥� Peterson runs two businesses through his program at the Beedie School of Business: LOCUS and SmartParks. He also works as the sales and marketing coordinator for his father鈥檚 company, Calico Jewellers.
But it鈥檚 not all about the money. Peterson volunteers for the , the governing body for Canadian lifeguards, and the , a network of organizations dedicated to improving the lives of youth in commonwealth nations. He started the humanitarian groups and at SFU, and mentors youth at his church.
In April of 2017, he was chosen as one of the 性视界传媒 Board of Trade鈥檚 . Most recently, Peterson was involved in the , a conference in Mexico from June 13 to 16 that brought together 600 students from 80 countries to discuss sustainable development and clean energy. Afterwards, he joined a community contribution program to build clean burning stoves for an indigenous community in Mexico.
Even this brief summary leaves out a litany of other business and social endeavours Peterson has dabbled in since leaving high school.
鈥淔or myself, I enjoy a broad range of interests,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 enjoy being a part of a lot of different activities because it really creates that interest for me.鈥�
Peterson has a history of volunteerism and business accumen that predates his university years.
He started by getting involved with the campaign during his time at North Delta鈥檚 Delview Secondary, an annual food drive with the goal of collecting 10,000 cans of food in one night.
鈥淚 loved what it stood for,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 enjoyed the aspect that we got to make a tangible difference in people鈥檚 lives, and that鈥檚 what really made an interest for me to continue working forward.鈥�
After helping chair the committee that organized the campaign and getting to hear about the difference the school鈥檚 contribution made to the 性视界传媒 Food Bank and Deltassist, it really 鈥渟parked that interest for me to continue and try to look for other things to do,鈥� he said.
That spark is what ultimately led Peterson to attend the International Student Energy Summit.
The conference 鈥渞eally solidified that I wanted to go towards something in sustainable development or social innovation,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淏usiness doesn鈥檛 have to be mutually exclusive from that.鈥�
After the conference, Peterson got a chance to see that in a tangible form by making clean burning stoves for residents of Zavala, a rural town between Merida and Cancun.
The first day there, Peterson said, the volunteers were greeted by the community and brought into their houses. Most of the residents cook outdoors or in a separate hut, he said. The team built 56 stoves to deal with the issues of housing fires, lung disease and high carbon dioxide emissions.
鈥淭hat was something that was very eye opening, realizing people that have a certain way of cooking,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淣o matter how good we think [an energy efficient stove] is, they won鈥檛 appreciate it unless it fits with what they know.鈥�
鈥淲ith this style of stove, it was still able to cut down on the CO2 emissions by the wood. It actually cut down about 60 per cent of the wood that they used, so it鈥檚 much more efficient.鈥�
Peterson finished his time in Mexico on June 21, and he鈥檚 not sure what he鈥檚 going to do next. But inexperience won鈥檛 be what dictates his path.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know how to do a lot of the activities that I currently am doing. But that didn鈥檛 stop me from doing them,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you take that step forward in engaging what you鈥檙e passionate about and what you actually want to accomplish, things will line up.鈥�
