Jagger Boussuge (’17) and his father are both keen photographers. So keen, in fact, that their passion can take over the Boussuge home. “It’s always competitive around the household, who’s better at taking pictures.”

However, the competition does not negatively affect Boussuge. “I think it’s a great thing. Whenever it comes to Christmas cards, we always argue whose [photo] to use.” Like Boussuge, some students have parents or guardians who have succeeded in their fields. Because of this, certain students are driven to follow in their footsteps.

Like Boussuge, Amaan Zafar (’18) has aspirations to follow his father’s career path and make his way into the banking world. For Zafar the most noteworthy thing that his father has taught him is the “moral of determination and hard work.”

Like Zafar, Gigi McQuarrie (’19) shares a similar passion with her father. McQuarrie is interested in film-making and the movie industry. Her father, Christopher McQuarrie, has directed movies such as Jack Reacher  and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

McQuarrie admits that there are both pros and cons to having her father in the same line of work as she wishes to pursue. “He can definitely help me, but I feel like then people might think that it’s an unfair advantage.”

For her, one of the greatest advantages of having a close family member in the same industry is the connections that can arise at any time. “He is fairly well established in the industry so if I wanted to do anything in the business he would know exactly the right people who could help me,” she said.

Despite this, McQuarrie believes that her connections will only benefit her to a certain point. “I think that it would be unfair to only use connections to get what I want, and also impossible because if you have absolutely nothing to offer you’re not going to get anywhere no matter who is helping you,” she said.

McQuarrie has already shown that she is not going use  solely her family name to succeed. “I did actually do a movie recently. I was in a Chinese film and I got the role myself. I think that it is good to try to succeed on your own with minimal help from your parents because ultimately, you want to be able to go to sleep at night knowing that you have achieved something,” she said. “You have to work hard no matter what advantages you have.”