My first year at York University is at its end and it has been an exhilarating experience so far. I started as a biochemistry major and York University is everything I always wished an educational institute to be like.

As a first year student, I got the opportunity to experience York’s new Life Sciences building. All my labs were conducted in this building with all new state of the art equipment. Apart from the academics, my social experience has also been very enjoyable. With 55,000 students on campus, anyone can feel lost and lonely, but the college system at York makes a big university feel small. I am affiliated with Norman Bethune College; by being part of this college, I got several opportunities to display my leadership qualities. I was class representative for my calculus and chemistry courses. I enjoyed my job of being a liaison between the professor and the students; I would like to continue this in the second year as well. Being a Schulich Leader, I had the opportunity to meet York University’s President, Dr. Mamdouh Shoukri. I was very pleased to have a talk with him at a personal level.

Over the year, I engaged in several extracurricular activities. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I joined York University Rover Team (YURT) and Astronomy Club. In YURT, I worked with the science team and under the supervision of senior students we developed and tested instruments used to detect life on Martian like surfaces. It was a great learning experience from senior students. I am planning to continue this next year as well. It takes a lot of effort to keep up with studies and balance it with other activities. However, it is all part of the learning experience and personal development.

In the end, it is an honor to be a Schulich Leader and I would like to thank Mr. Seymour Schulich and UJA Federation of Greater Toronto for the help provided to me.