Rising to the challenge, AU’s Rising Star aims for big impact
Aleksandar Golijanin’s experiences as an immigrant propels the Rising Star Alumni Award winner to create opportunities for others
“Growing up in Heron Gate was my introduction to the world.”
Aleksandar Golijanin (Bachelor of Commerce ’21) moved to the diverse south Ottawa neighbourhood, which has historically been home to many new Canadians, when he was just three years old. His parents had left the former Yugoslavia because of the civil war, coming to Canada in 1994.
In Heron Gate as a young boy, he met people from all over the world. Many of them had left difficult situations with few resources, coming to Canada in search of a better life. The stories of all these people he met resonated with him.
“Their stories are essentially the same as ours, it’s just that they had a different starting point,” he said. “Ours was in the Balkans, theirs was in southeast Asia or the Persian Gulf or in Africa.”
Looking back, Golijanin realizes how much skill and ability existed within that community. But he can also see the impact of crime and social problems. Friends he knew as a kid have ended up going down dangerous paths—getting involved in gangs, drugs, and violence.
Lessons on the impact of opportunity on community
“It was the most stacked pool of talent anywhere in the world,” he said. “There was just so much talent from all walks of life, but sometimes the potential and talent isn’t realized because environments get the best of people.”
The experience of living in an environment like Heron Gate, then moving to a different neighbourhood when he was 12, helped inform his belief in the impact environment can have on a person.
It has also fuelled his passion for work that can improve the outlook of youth, despite the challenging circumstances they might experience. For this work, the Athabasca University alum has won the 2024 Rising Star Award, which recognizes an AU graduate who has demonstrated leadership and significant contributions early in their career.
AU grad driven to help others realize their highest potential
Golijanin has accomplished a lot for a man in his early 30s and has focused on improving the lives of others.
He started AlekGo, a humanitarian initiative supporting a variety of causes, in 2017. His goal was to find specific projects that could create tangible change, and the work has included many initiatives, including cancer fundraisers and a sport-equipment drive in the Dominican Republic.
“People are touched by kindness, but moved by results,” he said. “So I was driven by trying to find ways to address issues at their core.”
Another initiative that Golijanin has developed, in collaboration with students at Algonquin College, is called DocConnectCa. This web-based tool can help connect Canadian teenagers with family doctors through a simple process: you put in your postal code and the system shows you local family doctors accepting new patients along with any paperwork you might need before your appointment.
He explained there is an overlap between people struggling with substance misuse and those struggling to find a family doctor. By helping connect youth with a trusted adult in the health-care system, Golijanin hopes to improve outcomes.
“If we can get to adolescents early enough, and we can provide them with access to a consistent health-care experience, then we can possibly change their life trajectory forever,” he said.
Most recently, he has been accredited with the Canadian Association of Journalists, focused on the foreign interference commission. In this way, he hopes to shine light on the limitations of public policy and legislation.
His coverage of the foreign interference commission has appeared in The Voice, a magazine funded by the Athabasca University Students’ Union.
Inspired to learn
Golijanin’s parents instilled in him the value of education from a very young age, beginning with the example they set as soon as they came to Canada.
The family spoke next to no English when they first arrived. Rather than immediately trying to find jobs, they set their sights on learning the language. They knew that improving their education would help create opportunities to improve their prospects.
“They realized for them, they needed to learn the language first. And after learning the language, they would pursue an education,” he said. “They wanted to go to school to get better jobs.”
Nonetheless, Golijanin’s own experience with post-secondary education came in fits and starts. He attended the University of Ottawa for a year and a half after high school, pursuing an education in nursing and health science. He found that at that time, he lacked the maturity to make the most of the experience.
He dropped out and then spent a year “developing and embracing more bad habits.” After that year was finished, he decided to continue with his education. He took a three-year business administration program from Algonquin College.
Earning that diploma allowed him to transfer the credit to Athabasca University, and he was able to ladder his diploma into a Bachelor of Commerce degree. AU’s focus on removing barriers to education provided the access he needed to create opportunities for himself, and for others.
Learning by doing volunteer work overseas
While he didn’t do any formal schooling overseas, Golijanin speaks of his volunteer experiences in Colombia and Dominican Republic as being educational “eye-opening experiences” in their own right.
In 2017, he spent several weeks volunteering at an orphanage in Colombia with young people who had been involved with cartels. Many shared harrowing stories of the violence they experienced—and perpetrated at the behest of the cartels, who know that children cannot be prosecuted for violent crimes.
“These kids were put into a structured environment, with support and love and care,” he said. “They were able to go from troubled, low-functioning children to high-functioning children.”
Golijanin also travelled to Dominican Republic, working with the national police force, similarly working with children who had had extremely difficult upbringings.
These experiences reaffirmed for him that everyone has potential, and putting people in the right environment can help them to reach that potential.
Rising Star award ‘a responsibility and a challenge’
Golijanin said he is honoured and humbled to receive the Rising Star award from AU—but he’s certainly not content to rest on his laurels.
For him, the award represents two things: “First it’s a responsibility, then it’s a challenge.”
The responsibility inherent in this award, he said, is that it’s a reminder that he represents some of the best and most accomplished alumni that AU has. At the same time, he can champion like no other the transformational powers of education.
In terms of the award being a challenge, Golijanin said it inspires him to continue growing and developing in the work he does.
“For whatever we have done so far, when it comes to social contributions to society, we can always do more,” he said. “And that’s where the power of example comes in—committing ourselves to excellence.”
Meet Athabasca University’s 2024 Alumni Award winners
Get to know other inspiring AU alumni from this year’s award winners.
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