Negar Dehghan Noudeh, Nutritional Sciences and Health & Disease

I started with being a student speaker in the math orientation for MAT135/136 courses held in the summer of my first year. During that summer, as well as my second year, I learned about various opportunities that existed to meet new people and to work with them in improving community engagement for the better of UofT. I joined the Iranian Association at the University of Toronto (UTiran) in the summer of my second year and have been a part of the team for two consecutive years. UTiran allowed me to gather and engage the many Iranian students of UofT in a variety of academic and social events. I also became a facilitator speaker in the UC frosh week that summer, which allowed me to help the incoming students learn all about Life Science courses as well as all the opportunities on campus. In the summer of my third year, I became a frosh leader in UC orientation week. This helped me get closer to first-year students and provide them with help and opportunities that are rather hard to look for in such a large student community. Last year I also became a year representative in the nutritional sciences student association (NSSA). This was a particularly new experience for me as I was hoping to focus my leadership skills on the specific department that I major in. I had this fantastic opportunity of representing 4th-year nutritional science students and help them in finding out about the great events and opportunities held for them as a means of community engagement.

As you can see, my philosophy of taking leadership positions was mostly about engaging students. This university has thousands of students, many of whom don’t know each other, and all the fantastic opportunities awaiting them. Another part of my leadership revolved around teamwork. As they say, teamwork is what makes the dream work! I was able to meet such helpful and kind people, and together, we were able to make tremendous changes. Lastly, I believe that thriving leaders are those who can transpose their enthusiasm into action and inspire others to do the same. I am incredibly thankful for those who inspired me to realize the value of seeking what I enjoy.