The Rotary Club welcomed Dr Jason Vaz to the podium. Jason was a performer in the Rotary Music Festival from 1990 to 2005. He began competing at age 3, and was twice runner up in the Rosebowl competition. After graduation from high school he started to focus on dancing and ended up pursuing dance professionally with Citie Ballet (Edmonton), Alberta Ballet, Ballet Jorgen Canada and several other companies.
He has subsequently pursued an undergraduate Biomedical Science degree at the University of Calgary, and completed his MD at the University of Alberta.
He is completed his final year of Anesthesia Residency at the U of A and did a year long fellowship in Pediatric Anesthesiology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
His words said it best, " I owe so much of my current success to my formative years in the Rotary Music Festival. I believe all those years of practicing endlessly, balancing multiple activities and dealing with performance pressure, set the foundation for me to be able to pursue music, dance and medicine. " "Looking back, I am so grateful to the Rotary Club of Medicine Hat for their continual support of the Music Festival. I really believe that studying music opens countless doors and that my childhood in Medicine Hat would not have been the same had I not been involved in music".
Dr Vaz spoke about the lifelong friendships he maintains with fellow performs and the self confidence he still feels to this day.
The whole club wishes Jason well, as he takes up his new position at the Children's Hospital in Saskatoon, in their Anesthesiology department.