By Paul Fraumeni
Aliyah Phillips likes to keep herself busy.
“My parents have always been active people and they inspired me,” says the 18-year-old, who prefers to be called Ali. “If I’m just sitting around, I get bored easily. Being active makes me happy.”
Her daily schedule is always buzzing on a number of fronts. After completing her first year at the University of Victoria (UVic) on Vancouver Island, she’s got three summer jobs in her hometown of Kenora, Ontario – as a Person in Charge at the local Safeway supermarket (in that role, she is responsible for operations when the manager or assistant manager are not there), an educational assistant with the Keewatin Patricia District School Board, and as a cheerleading coach for children on the Kenora All Stars.
She’s also a serious athlete, winning awards and playing on championship teams in cross country running, soccer, volleyball and basketball at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Kenora before going to university. And, as if that isn’t enough, she’s achieved great things in in the serious sport of cheerleading (“It’s more than just pom-poms,” she says) in Kenora and now on the team at UVic.
While Ali enjoys all of these activities, her real passion is for helping people – especially those who really need support. She’s been involved with a variety of volunteer initiatives over the years, but the one that is at the foundation of her desire to make a difference is her work with Meals on Wheels.
“My parents and I started delivering meals to elderly people when I was a little kid. From that time, I was hooked and passionate about making a difference in the community. I love doing things that aren’t just a job. And with Meals on Wheels, the people we serve are so happy, not just for the food but because of the social engagement. It makes them feel good and me, too.”
There have been times during her adolescence when Ali didn’t feel good. She experienced severe anxiety over the years, sometimes so overwhelming that “I wasn’t really functioning.”
But she got some help from Firefly, a social services agency in Kenora that serves much of northwest Ontario. The professionals there worked with Ali so she could develop coping strategies to work through those periods when her emotions are daunting.
With those skills in hand, she decided to build on her devotion to helping others and enrolled in studies at UVic that will lead to Ali becoming a social worker. Her goal is to specialize in working with adolescents.
“I’ve seen what teenagers go through, because I went through it myself. So, I want them to feel that someone is there to help them.”
Her passion for community service seems to be in her family’s DNA. Her mom, Heather Norris, is a registered nurse working in prisons. Her dad, Scott Phillips, is a police detective. And her late grandfather, Garry Norris, was a social worker.
And as much as she has helped so many in the Kenora community, she has worked hard for her family, too.
Heather contracted Covid from her work as a nurse – and it became long Covid. She’s slowly recovering, but her three years of being sick and Scott’s need to travel the region in his job as a detective meant a lot of responsibility was left to Ali. She drove her younger brothers, Rowan and Tate, to school, their sporting activities and social functions and did a lot of the family grocery shopping and cooking.
All that took a toll on Ali’s mental health. Her therapists at Firefly helped her get on a solid path going forward. And her first year at UVic, where she made new friends and loves the beautiful campus and west coast weather, really helped.
She’s in a good place now, after many difficult years. And she has some words of wisdom for others who feel overwhelmed by the pressures of life:
“Everything happens for a reason. Remember, you are not broken, you are becoming.”
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