Ryan Li

Ryan Li is an engaged advocate for social change; ever since he was little, he has dedicated himself to helping people in need. His main passion lies in supporting vulnerable youth, both financially and educationally, because he believes they represent humanity’s future.

Growing up in an immigrant family, Ryan has always felt pressure to fit in with everyone else. As someone without deep roots in his community, he always felt that he needed to keep up with the latest games, trends, and TV shows. At least, that was what he felt until he started debating in 2020. Here, he learned the power of uniqueness in arguments, delivery, and character. With these benefits in mind, Ryan started his own international debate club, GYP Debate, which sought to remove debate’s high barriers of entry and provide affordable debate lessons. Not only has Ryan’s club reached over 40 children from all across the world, it has raised almost CAD 2,000 to support vulnerable communities in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Ryan’s dream is to work as a policy advisor, seeking to shape forward-thinking proposals that will have a transformative impact on communities. In the meantime, however, Ryan currently fills his schedule by volunteering his time to various non-profits, such as his local church - where he runs weekly Sunday School children’s activities - and FUSE Society, where he teaches an innovative business curriculum to schools across Canada for free - in fact, he’s already been elected to serve as FUSE’s National CEO for 2023-24! 

Having played competitive curling for 8 years, Ryan hopes to become a student-athlete at university. In addition, he’s currently learning Spanish, hoping to bring his language count to four - English, French, and Mandarin are the three languages that he’s mastered so far.

In the future, Ryan hopes to major in political science at Georgetown University. After graduating, he hopes to secure a job in government or at a think tank to make a tangible impact on policies that will affect everyone.