Post-secondary activist and business innovator

When Sally Ng doesn’t know what to do, she tries everything. Once, the 21-year-old commerce student thought she wanted to go to military college, but after six weeks of the air cadet program decided it wasn’t for her. Her solution was to take a variety of courses in high school: journalism, math, physics, and fashion design. Now she’s a post-secondary education activist. Two years ago she started inspiring other high school students to do the same as part of Future to Discover, a pilot project sponsored by the government of New Brunswick. Along with three other university students, Ng visits Grade 10 classrooms, speaks about post-secondary options, tells her story, and tries to get students excited about their future.

Originally from Malaysia, Ng was really searching for something to complement her passion: flying planes. At 12 she became a Royal Canadian air cadet, and when she turned 19 she joined the Canadian Forces Cadet Instructors in Sackville, N.B. She thought about taking business administration with a concentration in aviation but the high tuition held her back.

Instead, Ng enrolled in the commerce program at Mount Allison University in Sackville and at Moncton Flight College, where she takes part-time classes. This arrangement allows her to receive both degrees in four years for half the cost, all of which she pays for herself by working part-time jobs. Someday she hopes to work with commercial airlines to help with recruiting, management, and HR. 

Ng also excels as a commerce student and was part of the winning team for this year’s New Brunswick Innovation Foundation Breakthru Business Competition, which received $125,000. She and two other students came up with a business plan for a company called ChemGreen Innovation, which manufactures eco-friendly plastic invented by Mount Allison chemistry professor Dr. Khashayar Ghandi. “She’s a leader,” says Future to Discover facilitator Lisa Calhoun. “Sally’s one of these young people who takes initiative and thinks of ways to do something better.”

Trial and error has worked for Ng. “I had no idea what I wanted to do, and I figured it out by trying new things. If you want to be a veterinarian, ask one if you can job shadow for a day. The worst-case scenario is you don’t like the job. In the best case, you just found something you like.”