In June, 2008, Jeremy De Silveira was awarded an Educational Scholarship from the BCNF, which he went on to use at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) after graduating from high school. Jeremy finished a program in Computer Systems Technology in December, 2012. “I heard about the scholarship during my senior year of high school and I thought I’d try applying for it because I knew I wanted to go to college. I didn’t want NF to hold me back,” tells Jeremy.

After completing the program at BCIT, Jeremy immediately began his search for employment in the computer industry, but unfortunately has not been able to find a job in that line of work. “It seems every employer is looking for past experience in the field, so I started looking for jobs in other areas,” Jeremy shares. He was determined to obtain work and was employed at a grocery store. Unfortunately, due to a lack of understanding and patience regarding NF by his boss, Jeremy was recently laid off. Jeremy continues to work on broadening his computer skills on his own time in order to increase his employment options.

NF has affected Jeremy's mental processing and his ability to retain information which has been a challenge in his schooling. “In high school, I had the challenge of keeping up my good grades by spending so much time on my homework that I didn’t have much of a social life.” He also had to overcome struggles in college at BCIT. “The workload at BCIT for the full time program got too overwhelming for me in the third semester.” Jeremy decided to finish the rest of the courses on a part-time schedule. It took quite a bit longer, but the important thing was that he succeeded in completing the program despite the struggles NF brought his way.

In addition to his learning disabilities, Jeremy was bullied growing up due to speech delays. “I had a hard time making friends and keeping them all throughout school,” tells Jeremy. “Since I was bullied so much, I became very shy which is something I’m still trying to overcome.” Jeremy shares that he still sometimes has trouble speaking clearly and articulating his thoughts, especially when excited or upset.

Jeremy enjoys playing video games, anime, and everything related to computers. He has overcome many obstacles and has not let NF stop him from achieving his goals. His strong work ethic and determination in life are to be admired and will take him far.