FreeLearn Volunteers
Through our partnership with The Royal Alberta College (RAC), we have provided opportunities for youth from across Canada to gain experience and expand their portfolios in web development, systems integration and everything that is awesome.
These individuals are disruptors and strive to make a positive impact for all Canadians.
David He
Bates College
Social Media
Community Manager
David is a Vancouver-based student. Currently serving on the Prime Minister’s Youth Council, he is passionate about creating a more inclusive & equitable country for all Canadians. As a 19-year-old, David is an incoming first year student at Bates College in the United States.
Dana Rud
Kyiv National University
Social Marketing
Manager
Dana Rud was born and raised in Ukraine. After graduating Kyiv National University for Psychology, she has been working in the IT sector. Starting with customer support and becoming a product designer for the Meta business partner app has helped her realize that her true passion is to help people while being able to learn their behaviour and motives. That is why she is currently focused on working with the audiences’ content perception and making it clear, user friendly and easy.
Michael Durodola
University
Social Media
Outreach
Michael currently coaches youth soccer with BTB Soccer Academy, one of the top programs in Western Canada. He was born in Lagos, Nigeria and relocated to Canada ten years ago. He is currently working as a Night Auditor at WEM and he is very excited to begin his social media journey.
Dalaine Wall
University of Alberta
Graphic
Designer
Dalaine was born in Edmonton, AB and then spent her childhood moving from small town to small town in the Northwest Territories and Alberta, where she fell in love with her creative muse – the great outdoors. Finally settling back in the Edmonton area, she earned her Bachelor of Design from the University of Alberta in 2016 and her Web Design and Development Certificate from MacEwan University in 2020. Today her passion is to help businesses and non-profits to flourish and thrive with the aid of graphic design.
Gurtaj Khabra
University of Alberta
Web
Developer
Gurtaj has lived in Edmonton for 8 years and recently finished his 2nd year in Software Engineering at the University of Alberta. He is passionate about augmented and virtual reality, app development, and machine learning.
Harleen Mehta
University of Toronto
Web
Developer
Harleen is a 2nd year student in Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto, interested in the intersection between biology and engineering. During her free time, she enjoys reading about new technologies and painting.
Nolan Zurek
University of Waterloo
Web Dev.
Research Assistant
Nolan grew up in Edmonton, and recently finished his first year of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. He is passionate about creating accessible online educational resources and open-source software. In his spare time, he enjoys gymnastics, piano and working on personal programming projects.
Yordanos Mengesha
Concordia University
Research
Assistant
Jared Larsen
University of Alberta
Marketing
Jared is a Marketing & Social Content Specialist focused on engagement, retention, and conversions through short-form and long-form content creation for a variety of clients in BC’s tourism industry, digital ad creation, SEO analysis and implementation, and quantifying growth through analytics. He is the former Vice President of Student Life and managed several projects and advocacy portfolios surrounding mental health, sexual violence, food insecurity, and student homelessness. He developed policies to guide advocacy to the provincial and federal governments and organized major campaigns and events. Jared is a strategic and self-motivated marketing professional who continuously strives for excellence. His creative, yet analytical mindset allows him to quantify marketing efforts while developing strong brands.
Julian Franco
University of Alberta
Junior Website Editor
and Developer
Originally from Colombia, Julian lived in Quebec for 10 years before moving to Edmonton. Currently, he is in his second year of studies at the University of Alberta pursuing a Specialization in Computing Science Bachelor’s Degree. With a passion for Full-Stack Development, Julian hopes to combine his University experience with his self-taught Web skills to pursue a career in the industry.
Nelly Pelovska
University of Alberta
Junior Graphic
Designer
Nelly is currently in her last year of studying industrial design and visual communications design at the University of Alberta. Growing up in Edmonton, Alberta, she has always had a passion for art and was always creating drawings, paintings, and sculptures throughout her life. Nelly combined her passion for creating with design as she also likes to help others in creative ways. Her latest endeavor is her position as a Junior Graphic Designer on the disrupters team.
Fahad Suleiman
McEwan University
Advertising
Editor
The Accounting graduate from MacEwan University, Fahad’s love affair with videography started in university as a way to use up his free time. With time and practice, he has honed unique skills that were maintained and improved with consistency, With the combination of self-taught skills and determination, Fahad built invaluable experiences by working for several non-profit organizations, private businesses and events. Fun fact about me I stopped eating chicken nuggets after seeing how they were made.
Nikita Case
University of Guyana
Website Editor
and Developer
Nikita has a love of research and data. She believes everyone should be given a chance to improve themselves through education. She has a certificate in Data Analytics from the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies and is hoping to pursue a masters in data science. Nikita is proud of her natural curiosity and believes this has been a pillar of her self-driven learning.
Logan Blackburn
Institute of Technology
Project
Administrator
Logan grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, and is in his final year of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s Digital Media and IT program, where he has been training as a computer software developer, with an expectation to graduate at the end of the winter 2021 term.
Emma Tesanovic
McEwan University
Social Media Manager
and Marketing
English (Canada) 
Français du Canada
Yordanos Mengesha is a 4th year student at Concordia University in Montreal with a major in sociology and a minor in education. A former University of Alberta student, she studied Political Science and worked to run student led NGO Tutors for Affordable Education. The former Academic programming director for the UOFA faculty of arts and CRO for the OASIS election office she developed and honed multiple skills in community directed collaboration and multi-sector communicative action.