helmer.ca : biography of Jesse F. Helmer
Jesse Franklin Helmer is an eighth-generation Canadian of mixed English-Irish-German descent. Born and raised in Ontario, he is married to Adina, a beautiful, intelligent and funny lady.
I was born in Brockville, Ontario, one hundred years to the day after "O Canada" was performed for the first time. My parents, Alan and Lee Helmer, are from the Ottawa valley region.
My father worked for TD Bank for more than twenty years, which led to many relocations within Ontario. I have lived in Brockville, Aurora, Sudbury, North Bay, Pickering, Metcalfe, Bracebridge, Waterloo, Gatineau, Ottawa, Kitchener, Kingston and Toronto. I spent the second half of the eighth grade through the end of high school in Bracebridge, so when people ask me where I am from, that's what I usually say. With the exception of a short stint in summer 2004, I haven't lived in Bracebridge since Fall 1999.
My high school years were a lot of fun. My best friends were James Loftus, Mike Boyes, Andrew Green, and Matthew Lee. My only serious girlfriend was Cassie Whetter. We were dumb and irresponsible, foolish and foolhardy. Somehow we managed to survive high school.
For my 17th birthday, my parents bought me a Honda Rebel 250, my first and only motorcycle. It was often parked in front of the pool hall downtown.
I started working when I was sixteen. At first, the local McDonald's store didn't want me, but they later wised up and hired me. I also worked at Santa's Village. I'm not sure that I've ever worked so hard for such measely wages. Cooking food is a great first job.
After high school, I was accepted into the applied studies co-op programme (now known as Arts & Business Co-op) at University of Waterloo. In second year, I declared my major as English language and literature. I received my degree at convocation in June 2004.
At UW, I volunteered my time to a few organizations. The first was Imprint Publications, the not-for-profit corporation that publishes the university's student newspaper, Imprint. I started at Imprint as a proofreader, and eventually was elected Vice-President and appointed President of the corporation. The second organization was uwstudent.org, another not-for-profit media corporation. I was Editorial Director and one of the few volunteer editors and writers for the organization's news web site. The third organization is the university itself. In Winter 2002, I was elected to the Senate of University of Waterloo for a two-year term as the sole represenative of full-time arts students. I also served as an Arts Co-op Councillor on the Students' Council of the Federation of Students, University of Waterloo from May 2003 till April 2004.
In 2005, I completed the Master of Public Administration programme at Queen's University in Kingston. I now work as manager, external relations at The Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation. We invest in young people who demonstrate outstanding potential as future leaders. You can learn more or make a donation.
I met my wife, Adina, at the student newspaper. Our first kiss was the most awkward of my life. I asked her to marry me on 29 November 2003. See our wedblog for details on the wedding. We have two wonderful cats.
