Laurier Grads Soar is a multi-part series that returns for it's third installment during the 2018-19 season. The segment features former Wilfrid Laurier University athletes and student-leaders in the Athletics and Recreation Department, and the success they have enjoyed since leaving Laurier. Written by award-winning journalist David Grossman, different features will be released throughout the year that will emphasize the role Athletics and Recreation played in helping them achieve success.Christina Polano: Toronto lawyerChristina Polano went to Wilfrid Laurier University to learn, earn a degree, focus on a career and, throughout those special years, get to meet new friends and benefit from a campus atmosphere.
As a Laurier athlete, Polano remembers the Golden Hawks were involved in plenty of challenges and rivalries. When she wasn't competing on the Laurier swim team or part of the barrage of inspiring rallies on the cheerleading squad, the academic load was enough to keep her focused on studies – and more studies.
Little did she know that some of her university days would also involve reading children's books – including many from writer, and cartoonist, Theodor Geisel, who went by the pen name of Dr. Seuss.
Something very rewarding, during those years at Laurier, that an eloquent and enthusiastic Polano remembers very well, had a huge personal impact leaving her entrenched and, others, overwhelmed.
It had to do with her volunteer work, as a member of Laurier for Literacy, a service aimed at helping children, throughout the community, with reading and writing as well as giving them a huge boost of confidence.
“Parents would drop their kids off at Laurier, and I would read to kids on weekends,” recalled Polano. “For me, it was very important and you knew you were making a meaningful difference in the lives of these young kids.”
An assortment of Dr. Seuss books for pre-schoolers were among her favorites, and Polano would later continue her voluntary work at the YMCA daycare when she studied law in London, Ont. Fast forward, married and with her own family, Polano returned to those cherished books, but this time reading them to her two children, when they were younger.
Now, a lawyer with a tough work schedule and family commitments, Polano is still enthusiastic about helping, and is involved in a variety of community fundraising events sponsored by the ALS Society of Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society.
“You pick causes that might have a special personal meaning, and you just make time to volunteer and help,” she said. “It means a great deal to me and, looking back, Laurier has had a big spot in my heart.
“One of the best things (about Laurier) was that you not only had the ability to be a good student, but also to be involved in activities, have fun and contribute to society in a positive way.”
Growing up in Sudbury, Polano was a multi-sport athlete while attending high school at Marymount. Not an Olympic-bound athlete by her own admission, for Polano it was, along with being a student graduating with academic honors, a chance to get involved. Interest in the legal world may have started from an intriguing high school law course.
“I was always one that looked to benefit from being a team member – that was important to me back then, and is in my work today,” she said.
As for choosing Laurier, she remembers the five-hour vehicle trip, with her mother, from the serenity of dozens of lakes and the small rocky mountains of the Canadian Shield, to check out the Waterloo campus.
“Laurier had, and still has, this strong reputation for academics and that appealed to me,” said Polano. “But, there was more. I was from a small city and it was a small school. You just didn't get lost. There was this sense of engagement right away. Right then, Laurier became my top choice.”
In the classroom, Polano earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology, and spent two years on each of the swim and cheerleading teams. In the pool, her specialties were the 50-and 100-metre freestyle events. She also competed in the Nationals while on the cheerleading squad.
For the past 16 years, Polano has practiced law in Toronto specializing in insurance litigation, sex assault civil and liability cases.
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