MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY
Memorial student named among top eight in Atlantic Canada — and it comes with $45,000 in cash

Not every 12-year-old asks for shares in a business for his birthday.

But that's just what Nathan Young did, and it started him on a path to studying business, winning case competitions and now, earning one of the biggest student awards in Atlantic Canada.

Mr. Young, 22, has won a $45,000 Frank H. Sobey Award for Excellence in Business Studies.

Nathan Young sits in the White Trading Lab in the Business building. The lab features Bloomberg technology, which connects students, like members of The Fund, to global financial markets. (Photo: Rich Blenkinsopp)

The award recognizes entrepreneurial students for their academic achievements and university and community leadership.

He's one of eight students from Atlantic Canadian universities to win the award this year, and the 22nd from Memorial University since the program began in 1989.

"I can't imagine how challenging it must be for the selection committee to pick only eight recipients," Mr. Young said. "Somehow finding myself in this group is really a humbling thing."

A Torbay native, Mr. Young will graduate with joint degrees of commerce (co-operative) and arts in economics this spring.

After graduation, he's moving to Toronto, Ont., to work for SagePoint Capital Partners as an analyst.

Mr. Young completed all three of his work terms at the firm, which invests in and supports small- to medium-sized enterprises.

And it all began with those birthday shares.

Youngest person in the room

At the time, Mr. Young's father worked with Fortis Properties, then a subsidiary of Fortis Inc., a utility company headquartered in St. John's.

"I found out they were publicly traded. You could own a piece of this company, and I thought that was a really cool concept," he said.

He began learning about business models and investing and soon attended Fortis's annual general meetings while still a teenager.

"The Fund has changed the course of my life." Nathan Young

Mr. Young says he found the experience aspirational.

"These business leaders prove that  you can get to the highest heights being from Newfoundland. That was really inspirational."

Soon, Mr. Young found himself the youngest person in the room again when he began auditing meetings for The Fund, Memorial's student-managed investment fund, while still in high school.

He knew that finance was where he wanted to focus his studies and aspired to join The Fund in his first year at university.

"The Fund has changed the course of my life."

Mr. Young quickly became a leader with The Fund and has helped manage the portfolio for the past three years.

Through The Fund, Mr. Young connected with  Memorial alumnus Justin Burrage, a co-founder of SagePoint and a mentor for the student group.

Mr. Young was also a member of the team from The Fund that earned back-to-back championships at the Van Berkom Small-cap Case Competition, a premier case competition focused on small-cap investments for undergraduate and graduate business students around the world.

Champion curler

But Mr. Young's achievements go beyond academics and the university environment.

He's also a champion curler, having skipped teams from Newfoundland and Labrador at the Tim Hortons Brier in 2023 and 2022, and earned a gold medal at the 2022 Pan Continental Championships as the fifth player with the Brad Gushue rink.

In 2021 he earned a silver medal at the world junior qualifiers for Team N.L., and in 2020 won gold in mixed doubles at the Youth Olympic Games.

He's currently president of the board of directors for the St. John's Curling Club and founded the club's doubles league in 2021.

Watch the video below to hear Mr. Young talk about his curling experiences, The Fund and what winning the Sobey award means to him.

Mr. Young's involvement in sport extends beyond the curling rink, however.

He was a member of the bid committee for the 2025 Canada Summer Games in St. John's and has since served on the Games' youth advisory committee.

He says it's important to him to give back to the community groups that played a big role in his life.

"Those organizations gave me skills that helped me get into finance," he said. "But now, the experiences I'm getting in finance are helping me impact these organizations more in return.

"It's kind of mystical to a lot of people, the finance world," he added. "So to be able to sit on a board and help execute this can be extremely valuable to organizations, especially not-for-profits."

Mr. Young plans to add Memorial to his list of organizations that he gives back to once he graduates.

He wants to become an industry mentor for The Fund, for example, and help guide other students interested in finance and investing.

"I love Memorial University," he said. "The faculty, the staff and my peers, they're very special to me. I appreciate all of them."