Hey Innis! My name is Chiao Sun and I am the fourth-year Cognitive Science student behind the popular photography page, Innis Inspirations.

Over the years, many amazing students have shared their paths to success on Inspirations, and these stories have impacted the lives of many readers. Only a few, however, know the page was actually made during my darkest time at U of T.

It was near the end of my first year when I was in tremendous grief after an accident took away my godfather’s life. At the time, I was also struggling academically. I didn’t like the major I was taking and ended up being on probation due to poor academic performance. Like many people, I came from afar to U of T in search of a better future. But with all these things happening, I was bewildered.

It didn’t take me too long to realize that I was not the only one who struggled with school. Like me, some students didn’t like what they studied, some struggled with mental health issues, and some struggled with the balance between studying and life. But what amazed me was even for the most successful students that I knew, they had these struggles too, just like everybody else. 

So, what really makes the successful students successful since everybody struggles? Innis Inspirations was an attempt to pursue the answer, and capture the struggles and paths to success of some of Innis’s most successful students.

By now, three years have passed since I published the first Inspiration story and I’m no longer the bewildered boy that I once was. Although many people I have interviewed in the past have graduated and left this place, their inspirations will always stay here at Innis.

Innis Inspirations has published over 30 stories. You can read them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/innisinspirations/