A Q&A with Christopher Thompson, 2024 recipient of the Desmond Parker Outstanding Young Alumni Award

Christopher Thompson. 

In his journey from a U of T Mississauga student to an influential leader in the community, Christopher Thompson (HBA 2012 UTM) has shown unwavering commitment to inspiring and empowering youth. Christopher is a true champion of UTM and his enthusiasm shines through when recalling his experiences as a student. During his time at UTM, Christopher served as the president of the UTM Student Union and was very involved in student extracurricular activities and athletics. After graduating, Christopher’s dedication to UTM continued to deepen, as he remained involved on Campus Council and as a board member, and served as President of the UTM Alumni Association. Chris continues to share his boundless energy on campus as a volunteer, inspiring and mentoring students and recent graduates.

In his career, Christopher made his mark at non-profit organizations, eventually founding his own, Skills For Life, a charity focused on life skills development for youth. Christopher is also the Executive Director for the Federation of Black Canadians and runs his own non-profit consulting firm. This coming fall, he will be presented with the Desmond Parker Outstanding Young Alumni Award, which recognizes his inspirational leadership and incredibly generous dedication to volunteerism.

We had the pleasure of meeting with Christopher to discuss what this recognition means to him and how his experiences at UTM have helped to shape his path to becoming a leader dedicated to inspiring youth.

Congratulations on your well-deserved Desmond Parker Outstanding Young Alumni Award! Can you share what winning this award means to you? 

It's a great honour. If you had asked me back in high school, or even when I started at UTM if I would end up being recognized by the school later in life, I would have laughed. I rarely saw people who looked like me in high positions of leadership or talking about going to U of T. Now I hope I can be that figure for someone else. I hope to inspire someone else to see that, even though I had to ask for a payment plan just to stay in school, there is hope and you never know what applying yourself, volunteering and investing in people can lead to. 

What do you love the most about the work you do?

The thing I love the most is giving back to the community. I wrote down that I wanted to give back to the community when I graduated from university, but I never knew it would turn into this. After seeing how hard it was to get a job, I decided that I wanted to be able to provide jobs to young adults to help them build their skills and gain job experience. Now, having been able to employ over 30 people throughout my journey, I enjoy seeing my employees’ growth.

All of the organizations I manage allow me to support community development and pass on the knowledge I have learned in my journey and that gives me the most enjoyment.

What’s a success story that stands out for you? 

When I first started doing life skills workshops and was doing so much volunteer work, it could be tough. What kept me moving forward was reading the feedback from the youth participants from my workshops. They would share that they enjoyed it, or that they learned something new, or felt more confident in themselves, and that encouraged me to keep going. A particular success story is that a youth from my workshop has progressed from being a participant, to volunteer, to staff, to now being our lead full-time staffer – and that feels amazing. 

What motivates you to dedicate time to giving back to UTM students, despite your busy work life?

I always try to give back, especially to places that had a huge impact on me. UTM is where I found my passion, gained tremendous life experience and expanded my horizons in and outside the classroom through experiential learning in clubs, societies, committees and events. I enjoy inspiring the next generation and encouraging them to develop their skills from an early age. 

How important have mentors been in your life?

To be honest, I was never part of a formal mentorship program – but I learned a lot from informal mentorship. I observed my dad as a pastor in our community and watched him speak to and connect with people. I learned that helping others makes you feel good too. At work, I also had the pleasure of having some incredible bosses who would answer my questions, and let me see how things worked from the ground up in their organizations. Because of this early learning I was better prepared to handle real-life challenges and see unique opportunities. 

Can you share how your love of athletics and your focus on student group involvement impacted your experience as a student at UTM?  

If it wasn’t for basketball, I probably would not have focused in high school, or even gone to university. I wasn’t the most focused kid in high school, but I tried because if I did well, I could play basketball more. Basketball was my escape and a way to express myself. I went to UTM because it had a new gym opening and because there were so many levels of basketball available. The first place I went was the basketball gym at UTM and it was where I met some of the best and key people in my network to this day.  

What did being a part of student groups teach you about your own leadership abilities? 

Honestly, that is where everything changed – where everything started to come together. Student groups on campus are where I learned about community development and impact. It’s where I learned about new cultures, career paths and authentic friendships. At the time, I didn’t know I was developing key life skills. I just knew I felt good doing it. Now it has come full circle and community development and investment are my career and passion.

What is the best piece of advice you could share with a student just starting out at UTM? 

Try new things. Do not be afraid to be wrong. Take a chance on a new opportunity, class, club or interest. Treat UTM like your city and explore it. Your tuition is paying for most of the things there anyway, whether you try them or not. Learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and you will tackle any challenge that comes your way, which often leads to opportunity. Meet new people and get out of any clique habits you developed in high school. Finally…take advantage of those TA office hours. I didn’t but I wish that I had. 

Originally published by University of Toronto Mississauga