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News Page Option 5
York School News
Alumni Spotlight: Ralph Rouhana ‘19
In his final year of Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo, Ralph Rouhana '19 created a cloud-based platform that enabled him to take scientific notes quickly and accurately. Today hundreds of people are using his product – called Stempad – to create lab notes, scientific blogs, research papers and assignments.
When Ralph Rouhana ‘19 reflects on the positive learning experiences he had during his six years at The York School, three things come to mind immediately – the high quality of the teaching, how much his teachers cared about him and his fellow students, and the enlightening “aha moments.” Ralph says York taught him to think critically and continues to influence the ways he learns and approaches challenges today.
He embraced a variety of learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom. He was a member of the soccer team, tutored Middle School students and coordinated the peer tutoring program, and played saxophone on the streets of Cuba during a Music trip.
In Grade 12, Ralph’s teachers helped spark a passion for programming and software that led him to enter the Computer Engineering program at the University of Waterloo the following year.
He embraced a variety of learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom. He was a member of the soccer team, tutored Middle School students and coordinated the peer tutoring program, and played saxophone on the streets of Cuba during a Music trip.
In Grade 12, Ralph’s teachers helped spark a passion for programming and software that led him to enter the Computer Engineering program at the University of Waterloo the following year.
At university, Ralph needed to find a way to take scientific notes quickly and accurately. His handwriting wasn’t neat enough so he created digital notes on his laptop and used a combination of software programs to access tools for editing, drawing, creating tables, and entering symbols and code. As he relied on a hodge-podge of platforms to create his notes, Ralph thought about how convenient and efficient it would be if all the tools he needed were available in a single program.
“Why hasn’t anyone done this yet?” Ralph wondered. “And that's kind of when it clicked. I thought, ‘Okay, I can create this.’”
In January 2024 (the final year of his degree program), Ralph developed Stempad, a cloud-based editor and platform geared toward scientific writing. Within two months, he was using a prototype to take math notes. He shared the software with the Waterloo community in the spring and 200 students signed up to use it. That’s when he realized that Stempad might have potential as a startup.
In January 2024 (the final year of his degree program), Ralph developed Stempad, a cloud-based editor and platform geared toward scientific writing. Within two months, he was using a prototype to take math notes. He shared the software with the Waterloo community in the spring and 200 students signed up to use it. That’s when he realized that Stempad might have potential as a startup.
Upon graduating, Ralph accepted a job at Microsoft and was set to move to Boston to begin his career. But he soon learned that he had been accepted to participate in the highly prestigious Y Combinator Accelerator Program. Y Combinator, widely regarded as the best startup accelerator in the world, is where companies like DoorDash, Airbnb, Instacart, Reddit and Dropbox all got their starts. Declining Microsoft's offer, Ralph devoted himself full-time to giving Stempad the best possible chance of success.
Today hundreds of people are using Stempad to create class and lab notes, scientific blogs, research papers and assignments. Ralph has hired two full time employees and two contractors to help him onboard new users smoothly and reduce their learning curve.
As the founder of a startup, he relies on the skills and attributes that York helped him develop. “At York, I learned how to accept challenges and not be scared of them. Learning how to overcome challenges and think critically helps you build the type of resilience and risk taking necessary to be an entrepreneur,” says Ralph.
