There are a few questions that I keep hearing during my time at UWaterloo, “How is __ going to help you in the future?” and “What are you involved with on campus?” I have received these questions from various people: professors, co-workers, managers, fellow students, friends, and family. I didn’t realize the importance of these questions at first. In my first year, and possibly into my second year, I gave the cookie cutter responses, which were vague and always changing.
For the most part my campus involvement was fairly low at that point. So what changed my outlook? It was sometime in second year when I chose to sign up for my first extra-curricular. I decided I wouldn’t tell anyone; I wanted this to be for me, and I wanted to push myself to step outside my comfort zone. I signed up to be an orientation leader, and shortly after received an interview. It was the start of my list of involvement at UWaterloo, and I owe my recently elected Feds Presidency to that first step.
After that, I couldn’t get enough involvement on campus; I had to do more, and be more. I have come a long way from the shy Math student I was in first year, and I believe all of my successes in life so far can be tied back to my involvement on campus. I have received co-op jobs based on my volunteer positions and have brought things I’ve learned from my volunteer positions into my co-op jobs. I hope to bring all of my widely spread experience and apply it to the scope of the Feds President position. To quote one of my favourite sayings of our campaign, I want to “spark change” on this campus.
I had the opportunity to work with some great alumni to help create my list of accomplishments I hope to achieve before I leave UWaterloo. UWaterloo Alumnus Andrew Noble, former Feds President, inspired me to challenge myself and add President to my list. Becky Wroe, a one of a kind Orientation Manager and another UWaterloo Alumnus, kept me coming back for more and more orientation experiences. I encourage all alumni reading this post to stay connected to UWaterloo and get involved helping students the way the alumni I met helped me. Alumni have a lot of great knowledge and experience to share with present students and I wouldn’t be where I am today without my support team.