John Sun
2018 Gold Medal for Academic Achievement
Graduated in 2018 from Ryerson University, specializing Aerospace Engineering

John Sun entered his Aerospace Engineering program at Ryerson with a single goal in mind: to build a plane. It has been his mission since he was young; when he realized the extreme difficulty of the goal, he knew an engineering degree was the right step to take.

At Ryerson University, Sun served as the Tail Design Lead for the Ryerson Aerospace Design Micro Class, where he made model planes for competitions like the SAE Aero Design competition in 2016. He also worked as a Research Assistant at Ryerson and a Research and Technology Engineering Intern at Safran Landing Systems.

Sun was excited when he had found out he had won the Gold Medal for Academic Achievement, awarding the student who achieves the highest academic average in his or class. He appreciated the recognition, articulating that “it was nice to know someone cared.”

Sun believes his unstoppable curiosity and undeniable work ethic made his success in the program inevitable. He stresses the importance of shifting your perspective toward those mindsets, stating, “It’s not a sprint, its a marathon. If you persist through any shortcomings early on, you’ll be better off in the long term.” He also states that students should embrace the scope of the engineering world instead of letting a single subsection define them: “It’s an abundant world. Just seek your passions out.”

As Sun plans for the future and works towards the goal of building his dream plane, he is now pursuing a Master’s Degree in mechanical engineering at University of Toronto.