Student Ambassador Reflection: Ahmed Mahi

Wow! An “experience to remember.”

Many things I got to experience and a lot I have learned is because of this program. It still amazes me that this journey is ending. I always had a keen interest being involved especially in something where you get to talk with fellow students who have completely different stories and cultures that you’re aware of. Listening to those traditions and customs always made me feel thoughtful, understanding those fun journeys they have experienced in their lifetime always had me on the edge of my seat. I know that I am going to use “experience” so many times in this piece but overall, this is what I have felt throughout my whole time volunteering for the RRC polytechnic.

My story of getting involved with the international student ambassador is a typical story. I was looking around the school email and there it was a paragraph talking about RRC needing ambassadors for the following year. In the beginning, I was hesitant because of my busy schedule I thought I won’t be able to fully participate and perform my responsibilities. I deeply thought about it, should I apply? but that word kept coming to my mind “experience” and I just went for it and the rest is history.

Even though our student ambassador phase was through lockdowns and the pandemic. I still got to attend events, share my thoughts and even act as a volunteer for the field trip. The whole journey was nothing but an amazing lifetime’s worth of memory.

The most memorable event I got to attend was Camp Manitou in April 2022, which was a field trip for the entire day. That was the first time I went out with any other fellow students. Throughout my whole educational period I was completely online so meeting students face-to-face never happened. But that camp day was just an amazing day where I got to interact with fellow students, laughed, played and learned to make a new type of snack, which I definitely tried at home, and it was amazing.

The experience that I so fondly talk about wouldn’t have ever happened if it weren’t for the help that I received from the international student department. It was fun, exhilarating and was a learning curve for me. As International students, we are given a chance to socialize and be part of something new, which I suggest every student should take full advantage of and this program lets you do that. Every session that I’ve joined I learned something new whether it was WUSC – Student Refugee Program, Global Online Networking Event or Connecting to Canada it gave me an edge over those topics and even throughout my education I used some of those topics on my courses as well.

This wasn’t all just experience to me, I also got to meet a very good friend of mine through this program, he was the other student ambassador, the irony is that we have similar life stories and experienced the same things but if it wasn’t for this program I would have never met him and through this program, it’s not just the ambassador you hang out with it’s the people that you meet and interact and they go on to become some of your closest friends, so I would say this extracurricular activity is a really good reason to meet new people.

All I would say is, if you like to experience new things, meet new people and learn about the amazing Canadian, Winnipeg culture then don’t wait, apply as soon as possible and good luck with the amazing time you’re going to have.