My name is Parisha and this is how I became an RF

To be honest, I never thought that I would be able to be an RF. But in order to understand this to its full extent, it's important to pull the curtains back a little bit and re-visit first-year Parisha.

With the hindsight of being in my fourth year, I will be the first one to admit that first-year me was a mess. As an international student, moving to a new country on my own was an extreme challenge for me, As a girl growing up in Saudi Arabia, my life was very sheltered. All I had to worry about was doing well in school and making sure I get into a good university. What came after that wasn't something I thought about often, which was one of the reasons I went through such a shock when I moved here in the Fall of 2018.

I came in with the goal of getting my bachelor's degree in Computer Science and didn't plan for much else. When I moved into residence, the first person I met was my residence fellow for that year. To my surprise, she was also a Bangladeshi international student, so I immediately felt some relief knowing that if no one else, she would probably be able to empathize with the shock of moving to a whole new place. The year started off well, I was dealing with the enormous change in lifestyle and homesickness. Until of course my very first Canadian winter rolled around the same time as I realized I didn't enjoy my program.

I didn't have a term for it then, but I was going through some major seasonal depression that completely shattered my academics, and my CGPA was a reflection of that. For months, I wasn't able to muster the energy to attend my classes, and I ended my very first semester of university failing 2 of my 5 courses and getting really bad marks on the rest. As I was struggling to get out of Computer Science and figuring out what I was passionate about, I gave up all hopes of being the kind of person that can be good at anything, let alone be in a leadership position. All this while, I was starting to get closer with my residence fellow outside of residence, and she became a really good friend of mine,

Fast forward a few semesters, I had found Cognitive Science to be my path and I was excited. I worked tirelessly to get my CGPA back up to where I wasn't experiencing a panic attack every time I looked at my audit. When third-year came around, I found myself in a much better place. My grades were much better, and I had started to gain job experience which helped boost my confidence. It was then that my residence-fellow-turned-friend told me to apply to be a residence fellow for myself in my fourth and final year. It was surreal to hear someone say that because even though I have been working to better myself for all those years, I never thought I would come to a place where I would be qualified to be a residence fellow. I thought about it and even though I assumed I wouldn't be able to land this role, I decided to try my best and applied anyway.

Fast forward another few months, and after being waitlisted for a few weeks, I get the email welcoming me into the team of residence fellows for 2021-2022! I was in disbelief. For me, this role wasn't just a job that I would work for my final year, it was the symbol for me to show myself how far I've come. The person that helped me get through my first year when I was in the worst shape of my life was also the person who helped me realize my potential by encouraging me to apply for this position. Getting to work this job is a beautiful full-circle moment for me. During my time as a residence fellow, I strive to be the support system to my students that my residence fellow was for me.

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