Biography

Born and raised in Burlington Ontario Canada, Kayla graduated from Assumption Catholic Secondary School in 2007. In September 2007 she enrolled at Stanford University in California were she is currently in her sophomore year. As a freshman, she was a member of the Stanford Laptop Orchestra and is currently on the Stanford Mock Trial Team.

Over the past 5 years she has created and developed the teaching system Sounds into Syllables® to help children with autism overcome their communication and social development difficulties.

Sounds into Syllables® has been the subject of science fairs since 2004 and has won over 50 awards world wide, including Best in Fair for Canada. In 2005 and 2006 she represented Canada at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), placing 1st in the world in the category of behavioral and social sciences.

In 2007 she was one of seven individuals chosen by CNN to receive a CNN Hero’s Award. Over 7000 people from 80 countries were nominated for this award which was presented on December 7, 2007 on “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute”. This award show was broadcast globally from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and was hosted by Anderson Cooper and Christian Amanpour.

She was named one of Canada’s Top 20 under 20 in 2006 and was one of twenty Canadian students to be awarded a TD Canada Trust Scholarship for Outstanding Community Leadership in 2007. She was also the recipient of an IT Hero Award from the Information Technology Association of Canada, a Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes and a finalist for a BRICK Award in 2007.

Kayla has always had a strong love of athletics. She is an avid snowboarder and golfer and has played rep and varsity basketball and volleyball throughout high school as well as intramural basketball in university. She has also been actively involved in coaching young children how to play the game of basketball.