One year down!
I am grateful to be a Schulich Leader. My first year at University has been surprising to me. I was anticipating my program to be quite challenging academically, however, it was not unreasonable and I ought to have engaged myself in more extra-curricular activities. This year has been quite informative for me, getting a feel for University life and learning a bit more about my program options. Unexpectedly, my favourite class was Economics. I have already found the knowledge helpful in understanding current events on a deeper level, and the economic language is useful in explaining many things outside of economics. This next year I plan to continue in the College of Agriculture, pursuing a degree in horticultural science.
This summer, I plan to complete designing and constructing an experimental aquaponics system that I started last summer. Although I’ll likely not start operating it until next summer, I look forward to doing some research on how to optimize a system to not waste nutrients. As I did last summer, I have again leased a plot at a community garden. I enjoy gardening quite well and continue to gain an appreciation of horticulture and small-scale farming as I interact with the other gardeners. It’s a pleasure to be able to meet such a variety of people and learn from new immigrants growing herbs from back home, elderly Ukrainian women deterring gophers from their beets, and young children fascinated by the climbing pole-beans.
This summer, the Schulich Leader Scholarship is affording me the time to pursue my interest of videography. I am thankful to be a Schulich leader and look forward to where the next academic year will take me.