Join us on Thursday, December 11 at 1 PM at Heritage Hall for the Phoenix Seniors Social Club featuring Sya Van Geest – a lifelong storyteller and passionate volunteer who has spent decades inspiring others through the power of words.

Sya is a member of the Guelph Guild of Storytellers and an avid, veteran storyteller comfortable telling to all ages. She’s a regular volunteer in schools, children’s groups, senior homes, church groups, and special events, and a teacher of the craft of storytelling. She is an experienced educator with over thirty years as a classroom teacher, teaching librarian, consultant, and author of curricula and short stories in both elementary and high schools.

Sya was the recipient of the Ontario Library Association Distinguished Service Award in 2004, the Guelph Women of Distinction for Voluntary Community in 2010, and the Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow in 2021. Sya is also a founding member of the ‘Guelph GoGo Grandmothers’, which is part of a global grandmother movement supporting the ‘African Grandmothers Campaign’ of the Stephen Lewis Foundation.