Nathan Kashira, Sci ’30, grew up in Kingston taking photos and videos. Now, the hobby he turned into a business is helping shape what he hopes to study at Queen’s.
Kashira is the sole 2026 Loran Scholar to choose Queen’s University. The sought-after award receives roughly 5,000 applicants each year, selecting only 36 students. Loran Scholars receive $100,000 to fund their university education and activities.
He said the program appealed to him because he hasn’t settled on a single discipline.
“I feel like I’m one of those people that likes to try a whole bunch of new things,” Kashira said in an interview with The Journal.
The Kingston Secondary School (KSS) graduate received the Loran Award following a selection process involving written applications, video and virtual interviews, and five final interviews in Toronto.
Kashira said he was driving home with his brother when he received a phone call from the Loran Scholars Foundation telling him he had been selected.
“My heart sank. I thought it was really bad news,” he said. “Honestly I didn’t believe it for the first week or so after getting it.”
Kashira said the award covers his tuition, residence, student fees, and living expenses throughout his undergraduate degree.
For now, he is leaning toward electrical or computer engineering, where he hopes he could eventually combine the technical side of engineering with the creativity behind his photography.
“Maybe engineering new drones and cameras or things like that, or something that kind of combines both together would be really cool,” he said.
Kashira credits his community involvement and the photography business he started as a teenager as factors that helped him through the scholarship’s selection process.
Through Impact Church in Kingston, he has volunteered with outreach initiatives providing school supplies and food to local families. He said he has led teams involved in a back-to-school program and a winter food hamper initiative.
He also volunteered with Relay for Life, helped raise money for equipment in his high school cafeteria, and played football at KSS, where he said mentoring younger players became an important part of his experience.
Alongside his volunteer work, Kashira started Sky Shot Kingston, a photography business that grew out of an interest he developed as a child.
“I used to do these mini vlogs when I was a kid, just on my mom’s phone or on one of those crusty old camcorders,” he said.
After the COVID-19 pandemic began, Kashira decided to turn the interest into something more. He and his brother held a car wash to raise enough money to buy his first drone. He later bought a camera and began building his business.
Kashira said those early projects helped him build connections that eventually led to work with organizations including the City of Kingston, Procter & Gamble, and Taggart Construction. He now photographs events for the City, including this year’s Kingston Intercultural Arts Festival.
Staying in Kingston was one reason Kashira chose Queen’s, allowing him to continue operating the business while completing his degree.
Tags
General engineering, Loran scholar, scholarship
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