On Monday night I went to the first Business Model Generation Workshop being held over the next 2 months for the finalists of Project Wildfire. Earlier on that day the interns were sent an e-mail asking them to bring a “small item that has deep personal significance for you”

When I got home, I took a look around my room frantically trying to find something to take with me. As I sat down at my desk I came across a Canadian pin. 

Physically there’s nothing special about this pin. It’s mass produced and distributed to Canadian citizens. Whether you’re at a Canada Day parade or the waiting room of your local Member of Parliament’s office, you’re bound to get your own.

Symbolically however - is another story.

- This was the pin that I wore when SIFE Ryerson represented Canada at the SIFE World Cup. 

- This was the pin that I wore when I presented as Team Canada in front of delegates from 39 other countries. 

Words cannot explain that experience. All year, members of the SIFE Ryerson team work hard - running events, delivering seminars, helping businesses, writing proposals, raising funds, creating scripts, practicing presentations, etc. To be rewarded with the opportunity to travel together to Los Angeles and showcase our achievements on behalf of our nation is a moment I will never forget. To be in a beautiful place, with beautiful people having the time of our lives, those are the personal moments you never forget.

As I slowly came back from the trip down memory lane, I realized…I’d found my object.

At the seminar, people presented different mementoes that were of personal significance to them.

Do you have something that has a deep personal connection or a memory attached to it?