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Vancouver Homework Club Society, working at Britannia Secondary School, supports the academic, social and developmental skills of East Vancouver high school students by providing qualified tutors; a warm, inviting supervised room for students to study after school hours; and active support and advocacy for students both in and out of school.

Founded in 2001, the Homework Club has grown to become the largest after school club at Britannia Secondary. Britannia Secondary draws its students from some of Vancouver’s most vulnerable neighbourhoods, including the Downtown Eastside, Strathcona and Grandview-Woodlands, neighbourhoods where poverty is endemic.

​The Vancouver School Board has designated 30% of the students at Britannia as having special needs. In addition, students at Britannia Secondary school frequently need more necessary developmental, academic, and emotional supports. Club programming is based on the premise that all secondary students need both qualified academic tutoring and social development to succeed in school and in life after school.

We start with a warm and welcoming after school environment. We include over 50 tutors, drawn from the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, Frontier College and the local community, who are skilled in their subject areas. And we top it off by awarding bursaries at the end of each academic year to Homework Club students who are continuing on to post-secondary education but might not otherwise qualify for bursaries.

OUR FACILITATORS

Katie Simonson

Katie Simonson (She / Her / Hers) is the school counsellor at Britannia. She has a Bachelors in Psychology, a Masters in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis on adolescent and family work and a teaching degree. She has experience working with youth in both outreach and academic settings and has coordinated and organized a number of activities and events. Katie is passionate about continuing to have a space for students after school where they can collaborate with tutors, have great conversation, eat good food and feel part of a purposeful community.

NATALIE WAI

Natalie Wai (She / Her / Hers) is a school based resource teacher who has taught for over 20 years. She has taught English Language Arts 8-12; ELL all levels and all subjects. Her special education experience includes LAC, LSP, Skills Development Centre and resource in both middle and secondary settings. An experienced tutor and co ordinator, she considers it a privilege to support students at Britannia. She also has experience in other east side schools such as John Oliver, Killarney, Tupper, and Templeton.

OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

DIANNE RICE

FOUNDING CHAIR
​​She / Her / Hers
ABOUT DIANNE
In 2001, as an Area Counsellor for the Vancouver School Board, Dianne (She / Her / Hers) began a homework club in the local community centre. Over the years it grew in numbers and so it moved to Britannia Secondary School, the local high school where many of the attendees were entering Grade 8. Over the ensuing years it grew into a very successful club that provided tutoring opportunities to students who otherwise could not afford it.

Dianne retired in June, 2007 and the Vancouver School Board discontinued the program as the Board was in financial crisis. In her disappointment, Dianne went searching for funding so that Homework Club could continue as a non-profit organization. With the help of many experienced community members, Homework Club was able to gain a charity number and develop a Board of Directors.

The Club is now stronger than ever and Dianne feels very blessed that her legacy to the children of the Downtown Eastside will continue.

ANNA RICE

CHAIR
​​She / Her / Hers
ABOUT ANNA
Anna (She / Her / Hers) has lived in East Vancouver for the past decade and joined the Homework Club Board of Directors in 2019, though her connection to the organization extends back twenty years when her mother Dianne founded the club. 

Anna’s interest in community development grew throughout her travels as a member of the Canadian Badminton Team, where she spent over a decade visiting urban and rural communities in over 50 countries.  

Anna completed a Masters in Communication for Development with a focus on Sport for Development, which led to several years working with the Canadian-based organization Right To Play.  Currently, Anna spends her time working as a badminton coach and raising her two young children.

​EMAIL ANNA: [email protected]

JEN BOUCHER

VICE CHAIR
​​She / Her / Hers
ABOUT JEN
Jen (She / Her / Hers) joined the board in 2020 as a former East Vancouver resident and longtime supporter of the Homework Club. Her work experience began in arts & entertainment, working for Canadian music industry pioneers Paul Mercs and Sam Feldman and later joining the Vancouver Organizing Committee of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2008 as part of the Cultural Olympiad team. ​After the games, she turned her focus to supporting non-profits, working with LIFT Philanthropy Partners, a Vancouver-based venture philanthropy group that helps to scale the work of other not-for-profit organizations.

She branched out in 2013 to be an independent contractor and started her business, Call the Bouch, where she has coordinated and executed various client contracts, both project- and graphic design- based, for a number of Vancouver Clinical Counsellors, LIFT Philanthropy Partners, Coastal Sound Music Academy, The Vancouver International Guitar Festival, Women in Biz Network and Better Your Best Business Performance Specialists, to name a few.

​In addition to The Homework Club, she volunteers her time with Archway Society for Domestic Peace. She currently lives in Vernon, BC with her husband and two fur-babies.

Ally Gomberoff

SECRETARY
​​​She / Her / Hers
ABOUT ALLY
Ally (She/Her/Hers) was born and raised here in Vancouver, and is currently completing her masters in International Education Development at Columbia University in New York City. Ally has worked in a number of teaching and tutoring roles where she taught Grade 4s, Syrian refugees, and neurodiverse learners. Above all, Ally is passionate about applying an equity lens to education issues. In her studies and in her teaching, she’s an advocate for using a human rights-based approach, and centering Indigenous worldviews and pedagogies.

When Ally’s not working and studying, you’ll find her visiting the oldest tree in Stanley Park, or biking around the city in search of the best loaf of bread in Vancouver (the jury is still out, but she’s getting close to choosing a winner!). 
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When Ally was a high school student, she benefited tremendously from having a tight-knit school community that not only supported her aspirations, and also gave her a space to be herself, vent, and connect with adults that were rooting for her. Ally has joined the Homework Club board to ensure that all kids in Vancouver have access to that same kind of space. As a young educator, she also feels she has so much to learn from the other board members, teachers, tutors, and students.

William Banasch

TREASURER
He / Him / His
ABOUT WILLIAM
William Banasch is currently pursuing his CPA within the assurance practice at Ernst & Young Vancouver after graduating from UBC Sauder School of Business in the Spring of 2021. He joined the board of the Vancouver Homework Club Society as Treasurer in early 2023 and is happy to be apart of the great organization. During his free time, William enjoys backcountry skiing in the winter, golfing in the summer, and playing squash all year-round. 

REZA SABOUR

DIRECTOR
He / Him / His
ABOUT Reza
Reza (He / Him / His) wanted to be part of the Board at Homework Club because he came to Canada as a war refugee in 1987. Back then, he was a really impressionable child with little to no idea of what a new country and a new beginning would look like for him and his family. Reza says he was too young to absorb it all, but knew it was going to be difficult. School was a really big challenge as he struggled in those first years academically and didn’t feel like he fit it. Reza didn’t have a place to go or a program like HC to help him with his grades but to also provide him with a safe and welcoming environment where he wasn’t made to feel like he didn’t belong. Reza only wishes something like Homework Club was around for him when he needed it then. 
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Now, as a successful entrepreneur and someone who has successfully run his own registered charity in the past and as someone who has sat on several non-profit boards, Reza’s goal is to use his story and experience in order to help inspire other students who may also have had challenges that made them feel like they didn’t belong. Reza hopes to be able to encourage students to give it their all and know that if he could do it and make something great of his life, then they can too.

YOU!

WE Need YOU! Homework Club provides students with the resources they need to graduate high school and move on to post-secondary success but we can’t do it without your help. Learn how you can help Homework Club today!