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The last thing Brittany Russo (BASc in progress) thought she was going to do was seismically monitor a volcano.

In the fall of 1980, I sat in Sunny Sundberg's office in Health Services Counselling Centre at the University of Waterloo - a confused 19 year old wondering what I was doing in university, and what life was all about anyway.

I am a proud graduate of the University of Waterloo from the Masters in Fine Arts program, class 2007.  I have exhibited Internationally and at present I am represented by several prestigious galleries in New England.  I have also taught art at the Community College of Vermont (Burlington, VT), and The Shelburne Craft School (also in VT) for 10 years.

I wish I had heard that it’s okay to have no career goals more often in university.

I grew up in a small village (Chhangla) with population of 1500 in the state of Punjab in Hoshiarpur (India). I lived there for 18 years until I move to Canada to start post-secondary education.

One of the hardest things to learn is setting boundaries: How often do you say yes to a request, only to walk away, grumbling you should have said no?

Living in China for the last 13 years, my preferred means of transportation has always been the bicycle. Despite an efficient and ever-expanding metro system in Shanghai and an impressive high speed rail network that can take me to any major city in a couple of hours, I still prefer my bike. On my bicycle I can choose my own path.

During my first week as a St. Jerome’s resident, all the students were invited to participate in a talent show. It was my first time away from home. I was already missing my parents and feeling out of place in a new environment. That night I performed a spoken word poem called “Shout Out,” an anthem to all the things in my life that I was grateful for.

5 years ago, I made an impulsive decision. It was late December and I had just received an offer of admissions to study Geology at Waterloo.

The Schulich Leader Scholarship I received in 2013 allowed me to focus most of my time and effort on my academic studies during my time at UWaterloo.