“Put your heart into every moment”

The Person of the Month Award is given to contributors in the SDC community who use their time, dedication, and talents to help us towards our mission - to empower youth with disabilities. Gillian Lai, an art instructor at SDC is the Person of the Month for October. Through Gillian’s efforts and art, she continues to encourage all her students to explore their individuality, creativity, and imagination to then implement these positive attributes into other branches of the childrens lives as well. Because of this, Gillian has helped create numerous smiles, positive memories, and friendships for a wide range of children who have been apart of the SDC community.

Gillian was born and grew up in Vancouver. She graduated from SFU with a BFA in Visual Arts and is currently pursuing a BA in Psychology and Asian Studies at UBC. Some hobbies she loves doing are, drawing, painting, beadwork, reading, and listening to music — essentially all forms of art! Her current aspirations are to work towards a career in art therapy or teaching art to some capacity.

She first started working at SDC in October of 2021. Giliian was filling in as a substitute for an art instructor’s class, and has stayed as an art instructor for SDC ever since. Despite the classes being held online, she has found many ways to keep it a fun environment and created games that include everyone but also helps the students focus on their task at the same time.

Gillian has worked with students at SDC to help them discover their love of art. She has found creative ways to help the students engage with the class, such as incorporating simple games such as ISpy or Bingo. The classroom environment that Gillian has created has allowed students to learn a wide range of artistic techniques that further their understanding and love of art. These artistic techniques include origami and watercolour resists. 

Throughout the year as an art instructor at SDC, Gillian has built a safe community where students can freely express their own creativity and flares through art. Gillian ensures her students that they can change any aspect of their projects in their own way allowing them to find their individualism in their own works, and curate each class to fit each students needs or interests into creating a warm, welcoming environment. She consistently stays motivated to provide the most creative projects and projects due to the sheer happiness from looking at the happy smiles in her classes. “Put your heart into every moment” a phrase that Gillian lives by as she puts her best efforts into creating both happiness for her and her surroundings that is evident in our programs with the non-stopping laughters. Thank you Gillian for your passion of creating unforgettable memories and consistent dedication to the SDC family!