Every decision a school board makes should answer two questions: how will this help our students, and how will we know?
I’ve been asking those questions since I was a student myself. From 2018 to 2020, while attending Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School, I served two terms as a student trustee on the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. I saw how much the board’s decisions shape what happens in a classroom, and how few families know who is making them.
Since then I’ve worked inside public organizations, from school boards to universities, and run projects in the private sector. That experience taught me one thing above all: amid all the noise, clear strategic goals are what actually reach kids on the ground. That’s the trustee I want to be for Ward 1.
Why I’m running for HWDSB Ward 1 trustee
This October, Ward 1 will elect a new public school trustee, at a moment when Ontario is rethinking how school boards are governed. That’s a real chance to show what a strong, local, elected board can do for our kids.
I want to bring board cohesion as a level-headed member with private-sector experience: someone who weighs risks and benefits up front, makes strategic budget decisions, and keeps the focus on what matters most: our students. I believe families deserve a local voice at the board table, and the way to keep it is to earn it.
My connection to Ward 1
When my high school closed, most of my classmates moved to Westdale, a Ward 1 school. I studied at McMaster University in Ward 1 for four years, then worked there for a year managing the LIVELab research facility. I live next door, in a neighbouring ward, but Ward 1 is where I studied, where I worked, and where so many of my classmates finished school. It’s the community I feel most connected to, and where I believe I can do the most good.
What I got done as a student trustee
Smarter technology spending
On the board’s program committee, I proposed giving schools an opt-in, bring-your-own-device option instead of one iPad per student, so technology dollars go where they make the biggest difference. Families should be free to choose their own technology, and publicly funded education shouldn’t require kids to hand their personal data to a tech company just to take part.
A student voice on e-learning
As Public Affairs Coordinator for the Ontario Student Trustees’ Association, I led the publication of eLearning: The Students’ Perspective. The report surveyed about 6,000 students across 60 school boards; 94.5% disapproved of the province’s mandatory e-learning plan. That student voice helped change the policy. Technology is powerful, but many students learn best with a person guiding them.
Every high school, in person
My co-trustee Tara Rezvan and I were the first HWDSB student trustees to visit every high school we represented. Today those visits are standard practice for student trustees. The lesson stuck with me: you learn the impact of board decisions in schools, not behind a table.
Take the L.E.A.D.
Tara and I created the Take the L.E.A.D. conference: a full day at the Education Centre where student councils from every school networked and collaborated with each other and with HWDSB staff.
What I bring to the board table
A trustee’s job is part governance, part budget, part listening. Here’s how my experience lines up.
Governance · OSTA-AECO
I’m a director of the Ontario Student Trustees’ Association, where I chair Human Resources and serve as Corporate Secretary of the Board. That’s the unglamorous side of governance: policies, minutes, oversight and accountability. It’s exactly the work trustees do.
Running a public institution · McMaster
For a year I managed McMaster University’s LIVELab, a research facility in the Institute for Music and the Mind. Running a facility inside a large public institution showed me how public organizations budget, staff and make decisions, and how to get things done within them.
Cost, risk and delivery · Pynx Productions
Today I’m a project manager at Pynx Productions, where every project has to deliver on scope, schedule and budget. I’ll bring the same discipline to board spending: what does it cost, what does it deliver, what could go wrong, and is there a better way? Winning new business there also means building partnerships, the same skill a board needs to bring community organizations into our schools.
How people learn · McMaster PNB
I graduated from McMaster in Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, the science of how people learn, develop and make decisions. It’s why I insist on evidence: if a program is supposed to help students, we should be able to show that it did.
Showing up for my community
I volunteer as a medical first responder with St. John Ambulance. Whether it’s a first-aid post or a school board, the job is the same: show up, stay calm, and help people.
I’m running as a fully independent candidate. I’m not backed by a party or an interest group, and I’d rather earn your confidence myself than borrow it from anyone else.
In the news
- CBC Hamilton · 2025McMaster studying voter reactions during the federal leaders’ debate: Cameron was part of the LIVELab team measuring how undecided young voters engage with democracy.
- Global News · 2018How the vaping industry hooked a new generation of teens: at 16, Cameron spoke up about how easily teens were getting vapes, and worked to educate his peers about the risks.
- BurlingtonTodayEmergency vehicles get new life at St. John Ambulance