50th Anniversary Memory: Bhanu Priya Sharma (BA 2022)

Somehow, I always found myself at Woodsworth... from Orientation, to Pancake Wednesdays, to being a part of the Multicultural Fairs and leaning on my academic advisor.

I had just moved from Vancouver as a green 18 year old with an injured knee and bright orange hair due to a dye job gone wrong. I hobbled along during Orientation and was feeling anxious about trying to meet new people looking the way I did. I remember the Orientation Leader explaining how the Exam Centre was going to be where we shed a lot of tears.

While on the campus tour, I was walking behind a tall girl who was talking about being a Life Sciences students (my program!). I put my anxiety aside and interjected my orange head into her conversation. Since that moment, we became friends. We ate lunch at Woodsworth, would attend events together, and tried to become Orientation Leaders (and failed) together.

Even as the years went on, and I would go on to join the Indian Students' Society, become the Woodsworth Gala Coordinator and pivot in my degree, I always reflect back to my first friend at Woodsworth College who made me feel at home in a new place.

After Graduation

It's funny to think that I was done with university, only to find myself back at a university. My time at the University of Toronto, as a Woodsworth student, left a profound impact on me. An impact that left me able to create a community of friends, build my own baking business, travel the world and come back to Toronto... to become a Student Engagement Coordinator at York University. I work for York University, specifically within the four colleges at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies. I use research and data to drive what programming students need to excel beyond their academics. When it comes to the bare bones of my WHY, I reflect on my time at Woodsworth College, at the University of Toronto, to drive my programming.