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Melis
Belbez
Economics Student
Background
My name is Melis. I am from Istanbul, Turkey. I am a 4th year undergraduate student majoring in Economics and minoring in Computer Science and International Development.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
GoLead provides a great opportunity to meet new students, make connections and build relationships. I participated in this program last fall semester and I am consistently impressed with the work, innovative ideas, applications and projects. I am very passionate about the work goLead does and what it stands for and that is the reason why I decided to be on this team.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
It is a great environment where we can develop different strategies, create new models and work in teams for a common purpose. In this program we learn techniques for generating new ideas, making new connections and gaining fresh perspectives.
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Emily
Chen
Computer Science and Geography Student
Background
I am an undergraduate student majoring in computer science and urban systems geography with a minor in East Asian language. I worked on projects involving education and mental health as a member of the Fall 2018 Move and Winter 2019 Activate cohorts and now serve as goLEAD’s co-student executive of programming.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
I wanted to be a part of a program that would allow me to develop leadership and entrepreneurship skills outside of the classroom, and goLEAD provided the perfect opportunity to think critically about a challenge, have thoughtful discussions with teammates and stakeholders, and propose impactful solutions. Additionally, a huge strength of goLEAD is our ability to unite students across the various faculties, and collaborating with such an interdisciplinary group of students bringing a range of perspectives to our group meetings was both refreshing and inspiring.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
I enjoyed having the opportunity to work with students from different faculties and degrees (i.e. undergraduate versus graduate students) because the opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration brought many different and unique perspectives to the learning process.
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Farzaneh
Babazadeh
Bedoustani
Recent Graduate for Educational Leadership
Background
Farzaneh is a recent graduate of Educational Leadership from McGill University. She was working with the Leadership Development unit at Campus Life & Engagement for the last two years, where she developed and ran several workshops and led a volunteer group called ACCE Team. She is passionate about promoting soft skills to improve interpersonal communications in workplaces.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
From the moment I started this program, I always wondered if what I was doing really mattered and if it really could bring a positive change into the world. I found the importance of this question when I encountered other graduate students from different programs asking the same question. I realized that this is a big issue for all graduate students knowing that we are living in a time that an enormous amount of research is being conducted every day leading to production of a great deal of information. To me, we the young generation need not wait to be hired by big industries, but we should initiate some kind of action ourselves. In my case, my involvement with various activities on and off campus made me believe that, yes, what I do matters, I CAN make a change and I MUST aim for that.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
I believe in the mission, vision and values that GoLead is aiming to achieve. Through such programs, students gain access to invaluable experiences, skills and resources in a safe environment. Experiences that are not possible through mere academic involvement. Experiences that can create a lot of new potentials for their future career. Working with GoLead team, I aim to make this opportunity possible for those who dare to challenge themselves and get out of their comfort zone.
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Leela
Riddle-
Merritte
Global Food Security Student
Background
I am in bachelor of environmental sciences entering into my fourth year and was fortunate to participate in the Activate program in the 2020 semester. I am part of the VP Programming team this year and am excited to be a part of the team.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
I got involved with goLead because I really enjoy working on a team and encountering head-scratching challenges. Of course, I also enjoy competitive environments and wanted to diversify my weekly scheduled activities!
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
I think that the most persuasive ideas come from brainstorming, and, truly, having four people agree on a solution we were pitching was an incredibly fun and gratifying "eureka!" kind of moment. We were all from different academic backgrounds and stages in university, which was an absolute pleasure because discussions always brought forward surprising new ideas and perspectives.
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Andrew
Bismar
Electrical Engineering Student
Background
I am an Electrical engineering student who grew up in Lebanon and came to Canada to study. I speak English, French and Arabic fluently. I’m passionate about finance related matters.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
GoLead has a very interesting dynamic, with the whole continuous program that happens during multiple semesters. I believe this club has a lot of potential and am glad to be part of the team working on growing it.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
Working with my team and getting to know them was a highlight for me. Also, I learned a lot in matters of finance, which are extremely valuable information for my future career.
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Lea
Kassab
Electrical Engineering Student
Background
After Activate, I decided I wanted to give back to goLead by becoming part of the executive team. Having taken an Engineering Economy class, and volunteering to give financial literacy workshops to highschool students, I decided to put to use the knowledge I had gained by integrating the VP Finance team.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
This program has not only provided me with resources to move forward with my ideas, but has also contributed to my personal growth. The feelings of “belonging” and “trust” in this tight-knit community have empowered me to take on more responsibilities and become more vocal about my opinions. These traits are extremely important and are not taught at school. This is why I believe that goLEAD is the perfect opportunity to create new leaders and help them achieve their goals.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
Activate was a truly enriching experience that I would recommend for anyone willing to bring their ideas to life. The program offered workshops that not only covered the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, but delivered the step by step approaches to implementing strategies for success. Activate taught our team to tackle a problem by assessing much more than just the surface: different speakers with various backgrounds shared their insights regarding resources management, market analysis and finance basics. They even shared their own successes and failures, which allowed us to avoid crucial mistakes and move towards developing a solution to our problem at a higher speed. I really enjoyed Activate because it is a hands-on approach to problem solving, and it shed lights on many concepts that we don’t cover during our engineering degrees.
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Alexander
Gruenwald
Software Engineering Student
Background
I am heading into my 4th year in software engineering and am excited to soon graduate. I have always been someone who loves competitions as I find they are the best way to challenge myself. And that is exactly what goLead did. Through the ups and downs, it was an amazing challenge that both taught me what I did right and what I did wrong. It was an experience I hope everyone can one day experience.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
I joined goLead to help in continuing the exceptional work the team has been working on for the past 3 years. I hope to see it develop even further and potentially become something more than just a Wednesday night meeting with a team.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
I enjoyed the commitment that the entire goLead team gave to the program, giving up hours each week to ensure it ran smoothly. Every workshop taught something different and gave examples of practical uses for the advice told, opposed to just having someone aimlessly memorize the information. For me, it was a lecture that I actually enjoyed which I am sure is a rare thing to say.
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Zhanna
Klimanova
Software Engineering Student
Background
I am interested in software development, cybersecurity, jazz, film scores, music production, nature, good food, and I’m always up for learning something new; I also participated in goLEAD’s MOVE back in the fall of 2019 and ACTIVATE in the winter of 2020.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
I have taken part in the goLead MOVE and ACTIVATE programs in the fall 2019 and winter 2020. Both have been enlightening experiences that have further developed my skills in areas such as leadership, idea pitching to stakeholders, working on a project under time constraints, handling rejection and criticism, as well as learning to deconstruct a problem into its root causes, finding solutions, and meticulously analyzing them. I have made many friends, valuable connections, and have had the opportunity to work with very talented and bright individuals through my goLEAD experience, all of whom have taught me important lessons in life. That is why I want to be a part of goLead, to help maintain and develop goLEAD even further.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
The program is great in general! I learned so much about what it takes to make a project idea come to life and how much commitment it entails. The goLEAD workshops are engaging, the people are amazing, the atmosphere is motivating, and the overall experience is just one big positive learning curve.
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Mahnoor
Syed
International Development and Economics Student
Background
I am Mahnoor Ali Syed and I am majoring in International Development and Economics at the Faculty of Arts. I have been working with non profits since 4 years now and I am currently working on incorporating my academic and research work into my non profit projects. My current research interests include feminist visions of sustainability and women’s involvement in development with a community-based approach.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
I strongly believe in goLEAD's values about being driven by our academic work and research to formulate and implement solutions with a social entrepreneurial spirit. I am also really interested in the collaborative spirit goLEAD promotes through connecting students from different departments and programs. I think the values and environment would be great stimulants for new ideas and their implementation.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
Despite not having participated in the move or activate program, I have already managed to get a great sense of what the program is and how important the experience can be. To have a program that allows students to take risks and think out of the box with no penalty of failing, is important. I expect to learn a lot from this program and am excited to be a part of the team.
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Mahin
Ar-Rahman
Mechanical Engineering Student
Background
I have had the privilege of participating in both the recent Move 2019 and Activate 2020 programs, and am grateful for everything they have taught me from learning how to brainstorm ideas and determine feasibilities to actually bringing that idea to reality.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
I participant in both the goLEAD Move program as well as the Activate program this year. After attending the workshops, I felt there is something incredible about the experience, knowledge and exciting ideas that are available through this platform, whether it is from the participants, mentors, the guest speakers or the random brainstorming sessions during the workshops. I find this environment very stimulating and helpful in making you think outside the box, and I love it! Being a part of this time, I hope to learn more myself and also use my experience to help guide new participants to pursue their disruptive ideas.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
What I like most about goLead was the enlightening speaker sessions, outside the box thinking, culminaton of ideas from different backgrounds, the incredible learning experience from teamwork and much more.
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Thinh
Bui
Chemical Engineering Student
Background
I am a U3 student majoring in chemical engineering with a minor in environmental engineering. I worked on a project concerning waste disposal education at McGill in the Fall 2019 MOVE, and Winter 2020 ACTIVATE programs. My role, as one of goLEAD’s logistics executives, is to help plan the final presentations, and order food and supplies for workshops.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
I participated in goLEAD’s 2019 MOVE and 2020 ACTIVATE programs. I greatly appreciate the unique opportunity and environment that the program provides for students to develop their leadership and entrepreneur skills. The program gave me a chance to cultivate a lot of my attributes. Therefore, I want to get more involved and become a student executive so I can help other students with their goLEAD journey.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
I really appreciate the leadership and interdisciplinary teamwork environment that the program provides. Participants are completely in charge of their projects with guidance from mentors, creating a unique opportunity that is not available in the normal classroom settings.
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Konstantina
Chalastara
PhD Candidate
Mining and Materials Engineering
Background
Konstantina Chalastara is a PhD Candidate in Mining and Materials Engineering upon completing her undergraduate studies in Mining and Metallurgical Engineering at the NTUA, Greece. Her research portfolio focuses on water decontamination of selenium barring effluents using nanotechnology. Konstantina was the Vice President (2017) and President (2018) of the Mining and Materials Engineering Graduate Association, and further got involved at the Post Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) as the Environment Commissioner (2017-18) and the Internal Affairs Officer (2018-19) organizing numerous events and workshops promoting sustainability, while collaborating with several on and off campus stakeholders.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
She became involved with the goLEAD workshop series as she believes in the true value of extracurricular programs in Universities. The critical thinking, communication and leadership skills that you acquire in non-traditional classroom setting prepare participants to tackle real problems in their future.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
The part she enjoys the most during the program is how multidisciplinary each team is. Participants, with different academic backgrounds and age groups learn how to communicate with each other and tackle the same issue.
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Mia
Zhou
Software Engineering Student
Background
Growing up in Montreal, I was heavily shaped by the city's artistic scene. Through my interests in photography and fashion, I began to enjoy curating aesthetics, and with a background in science, I decided to plunge into the world of tech by studying Software Engineering. I’m always looking for ways to be innovative in my work whether it be coming up with a business idea or website.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
I got involved because I wanted to make a change in the world. Not to change the world, but just to create something that's bigger than myself. I didn't know where to start, so I joined GoLead as a first step.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
I enjoy being able to be part of an organization that inspires and connects creative minds.
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Sami
Rouhana
Electrical Engineering Student
Background
I am a fourth year Electrical Engineering student and I have been involved in this program since Fall 2018. I am now the Co-Chair of goLEAD and am very exited to work this year too with the executive team.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
I got involved in goLEAD because it is a hub of new ideas, of interested, and interesting people. And I find it is the best place to inspire and aspire to become an agent of change in our community.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
I really enjoy working as the Co-Chair. As we come from different backgrounds, we have different points of view that enable us to come up with creative and interesting ideas to tackle obstacles. I look forward to working with them again this year!
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Richie
Fong
Materials Engineering Student
Background
He is an undergraduate student who is one of the student executives of goLEAD. He is currently pursuing a materials engineering degree to achieve his career goals of becoming an active contributor to the materials industry. He is a young mind with a great drive to act and succeed.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
I strongly believe that a university is an institution not only for students to seek academic success but career success as well. I aim to help students reach a good balance between academics and extra-curricular activities and realise their hidden potential. I work actively with the goLEAD executives to plan the leadership programs.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
Apart from the pleasure of helping students, I enjoy seeing the efforts made by students and their progress throughout the program. It is amazing to observe the students apply the skills learned from the workshops for a positive cause.
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Velice
Zhong
Materials Engineering Student
Background
I am an undergraduate material engineering student and one of the student executives of goLEAD with a great drive to act and succeed. I worked as a researcher in a laboratory of organic solar cells at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
I was one of the participants of goLEAD’s first MOVE program, and our group won the final prize. I appreciate that goLEAD gave me a chance to challenge and improve myself in both my personality and soft skills. Therefore, I wanted to get involve and help students to inspire their interests in business and careers, and I believe participating will be also another opportunity to improve myself.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
I would like to see when students are discussing and interacting with each other. And I feel very appreciative of the students that can learn and enjoy the workshops that we prepare.
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Théo
Lescoat
Materials Engineering Student
Background
I am currently a fourth-year materials engineering undergrad student and was in the first cohort of the MOVE program in Winter 2019.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
I got involved with goLEAD because I realized how important it is to find solutions to real-world problems and develop teamwork skills which is a great complement to formal university education.
What do you enjoy the most in the program?
My favorite part of goLEAD is meeting and working with all kinds of different people, hearing their ideas and bringing them to life.
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Oliver
Durnan
Electrical Engineering Student
Background
I'm a final year undergraduate student in electrical engineering. I'm passionate about teaching, learning, and the outdoors. My role is to serve as one of goLEAD's communications co-executives.
Why did you get involved with goLEAD?
My favorite aspect of engineering is developing innovative ideas. I got involved with goLEAD because it offers the opportunity to further expand my creative skills and put them in practice in an entrepreneurial setting.
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