Coming from a private high school of less than 200 students, I had expected the transition to York University, one of the largest in the country, to be difficult. No longer would I be spending most of my days in one building surrounded by close friends and familiar faces. I would have to adapt to a new learning environment, social life and lifestyle. While I did recognize this transition as an important step in my academic and personal development, I feared I would feel like a small fish in a big pond.

It didn’t take long, however, for that fear to transform into excitement as the term big pond took on a whole new meaning. Looking back on my experiences so far, I realize that being in a big pond does not make me a small fish. Being in a big pond means greater opportunities. It means being exposed to a multiplicity of academic fields, and professors who bring those fields to life, each in their own unique way.

As a Biotechnology major, I am taking a particularly diverse course load. From Biology to Computer Sciences to Economics, the education I am receiving is enabling me to study the world from a variety of different angles. This interdisciplinary approach is of increasing importance in the complex and rapidly expanding world in which we live, and I am grateful to be part of a university that makes that possible.

I realize that I have been provided with the chance of a lifetime. University is my playground; all doors are open before me. Now it’s my time to seize the moment, explore my interests and quench my thirst for knowledge.