My Audacity of Hope (4) - It's All About Giving Back

My first year at SFU went by quickly. It was mainly due to the fact that I kept myself busy for the most part. I was heavily involved on campus with Orientation and other major campus events. I built my campus network which ranged from my peers, to the front receptionist of our campus, to library technicians, and to professors. I also studied hard in school and mastered most of the fundamental courses in business. It was with no surprise that I gained my entrance into Faculty of Business Administration in Fall 2005, which was exactly a year after I entered SFU. I was relieved, partially, because I can finally say to my high school peers with pride that I made it to a respectable program.

I started dreaming and setting out goals again. One of the things that I observed which our campus lacked back then was a business student run organization. As I would later write in my scholarship applications, "I saw a need and found a way to fulfill it."

My friend, Cody, and I drafted our proposal to the Faculty. I clearly remember the day we shared our idea to Sam Thiara, the Student Affair Officer of our Business program. The proposal instantly grabbed his attention and we proceed to finalize the detail of the club. We ran postings around the campus looking for our executive team. We recruited some of the most talented individuals at the Faculty. Many of them become my co-workers at the firm I now work for as well as went on to lead many other student organizations.

We named our organization - the SFU Surrey Business Student Association (SBSA). Things went extremly well right off the bat. We hosted events such as The Margin, an event aimed to fundraise for the Surrey Firefighter. It was a success. We had student representatives from all business clubs at SFU making their own stands at the Surrey Open House for the purpose of generating profit within an hour. It was exciting and a hell of planning. I learned so much about project management that later when I took the actual course myself, I found that my knowledge in that area exceeded most of my classmates.

We also started a bunch of socials that brought together all the business students with faculty members. These events were fun and educational. It shortened the gap between professors and students. I was grateful because of the relatively huge turnout at that time. I have always wanted to give back to the SFU community because it greatly helped to bring me, as a miserable young man, to someone who began to take ownership of what he does. I think with the creation of SBSA, I have finally had the chance to give back to the school and people that have supported me in my personal growth.