Recognizing student leadership on and off the ice

Balancing a demanding academic program with the intensity of varsity athletics takes vision, resilience and a strong community of support. For a fifth-year School of Planning student, Reka Somogyi, those have been the key ingredients to a successful journey at the University of Waterloo. This year, Somogyi is the recipient of the Environment Student-Athlete Award, recognizing her excellence in both sport and studies and her leadership within the Faculty of Environment.  

Somogyi’s leadership and discipline were forged long before university, taking shape first on the ice. She began figure skating at the age of eight and quickly fell in love with the sport.  

Throughout these early years, her parents emphasized skating for fulfillment rather than prestige and medals due to financial constraints. That mindset stuck with her, even when she reached varsity figure skating at Waterloo where support and funding allowed her to train more intensively than ever.

For the last 5 years, she has competed across ice dance, free skating, and synchronized skating. This season, she led the team to secure their first overall medal in more than a decade. 

“It felt incredible to celebrate as a team,” she said. “Skating is often individual, but that moment belonged to all of us.”  

Her weekly training schedule reaches 15 to 20 hours, layered on top of academics, coaching learn-to-skate programs, and assisting the Faculty with recruitment initiatives. Yet she credits skating with strengthening her academic performance rather than competing with it. 

“The fact that I’m busy forces me to stay organized. I’ve always needed to be active. Skating gives me structure and a community outside of school.”

Skating also taught Somogyi to cease opportunities where possible and work hard. She carried that mindset into her academics at the School of Planning.

Through coursework and co-op placements with the City of Guelph and the City of Waterloo, Somogyi discovered her passion for land use planning and municipal development. It solidified her commitment to building communities that are accessible, active and affordable, values shaped by growing up in Georgetown; a town where limitations on transportation and amenities revealed how cities can overlook community needs.  

“Accessible spaces mean people feel welcome and respected. Active communities encourage movement and connection, and affordability matters more than ever with the housing crisis. Planning must work for everyone,” she says.  

Somogyi will graduate in spring 2026 and plans to step back from competition but not from skating itself. She hopes to become a Skate Ontario official, support the Warriors through guest coaching, and continue skating recreationally in places like Ottawa’s Rideau Canal. Professionally, she envisions a career shaping inclusive, community-centered cities. 

Reflecting on her journey, she credits her mother as her constant support system and is deeply grateful to the donors who made the award possible.  

“They’re helping keep student dreams alive,” she says. “This award made it financially easier to keep competing and pursuing what I love.”  

Somogyi acknowledges that one of the greatest challenges she and others have faced is believing in yourself and resisting the urge to not disqualify yourself before you start. 

“You must be your biggest cheerleader and this award proved to me that I belong here.”