Leading Change: Student Changemaker Network Co-leads

ZAIN

AROOBA

Zain Mohamed and Arooba Siddiqui, the new Student Changemaker Network Co-Leads, are taking up the challenge to connect MRU students, and student changemakers across campus. 

The pair, now in their third year at MRU majoring in Child and Youth Care, have noticed the increasing barrier for students to connect with other students outside their major. They were inspired to take action and launch Humans at MRU, a spin off of the concept of Humans of New York. Zain and Arooba say their mission is to bring students from different faculties together through storytelling. The platform aims to give insight to some of the situations that students are experiencing which will “bring up interesting parts of people that they don’t usually get an opportunity to share on a day to day basis,” says Arooba.

Zain added onto this by mentioning that, “a lot of people feel like to have their story told/heard they need to have accomplished something huge or have made a huge impact in the world,” but that’s not the case on Humans at MRU, you can share as little or as much as you’d like about your experience and still be featured on the page. 

Whether you are recalling your first year as a post-secondary student, delivering food to people in your free time, starting a class group chat, or being brave to simply turn on your camera during an online class, it all counts. Sharing your story on Humans at MRU is a chance to express your student experience in all the ways it comes in, and a way to connect to other students in and beyond your faculty. 

In addition to Humans at MRU, Zain and Arooba will also be activating the Student Changemaker Network (SCN) to connect students interested in changemaking across campus. SCN is a network of students, by students, who are aware, concerned, and passionate about current environmental and social issues, and want to do something about it. Zain and Arooba mentioned they were interested in taking on the co-lead roles to further connect with fellow students, get outside their comfort zones, and have a chance to learn more about and work on issues they feel passionate about. 

Zain was born in Kenya and moved to Calgary when she was 2 years old. She is passionate about advocating for women’s rights, and tries to reconcile between traditional views and modern views of feminism.

Arooba was born in Pakistan, first migrating to the United States then settling in Calgary at 5 years old. Arooba is passionate about fighting against homelessness to help remove the stigma around the issue. 

For SCN's first initiative, the co-leads are excited to get students together from different majors such as criminology, child studies, sociology, etc. to discuss various topics from different perspectives to bring broader views to an issue. They mention, for example, that “changemaking” for a student from criminology might mean law enforcement or prosecution, whereas to a child studies student it might mean learning about people’s trauma and how to create environments that can help them through that. Furthermore, the pair mentions that SCN is about community and open conversation. It’s a space where students can start putting action into the world.

WHAT DOES CHANGEMAKING MEAN TO YOU? 

Arooba: Changemaking doesn’t have to be leaps and bounds. I think it can start really small and it can happen internally too. 
Changemaking can be conversations, and it can be so small that you might not even see it immediately. It’s about putting out that intention into the world and saying I want this to be a better place, not only for me, but generations after me. As humans go down the evolutionary process I think that humans try to make things easier for other humans, but we have to try looking internally as well. How can we change ourselves internally as well as focus on technology and other external developments?

Zain: Changemaking to me means using the resources and talents that you have to make a positive impact on the world, so it can be anything from art, music, literature, politics, or even using your talents and your passions to put a smile on people’s faces. It’s anything you can do to create a positive impact in the world that's going to create change, whether you see it or not.  

Also doing things you are passionate about. I used to think, why pick a career that is not going to ‘help humans’, that’s not going to do social change? But if you’re an accountant and you’re really happy being an accountant you're going to put that energy into the world. You’re going to do things in the world with that positive energy that will impact someone else, and that will create waves. 

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO STUDENTS INTERESTED IN CHANGEMAKING WORK? 

Arooba: Your purpose does not have to be the same thing as your passion. You can use both to change the world. Lean into the unknown, and fake it til you make it. 

Take risks. For example, be the first person in your online class to start your camera one day, even if it’s awkward. Or just talk in those small breakout rooms, because you never know what’s going to happen after. You could meet one of your best friends, or you could be able to change something about someone else’s life. Who knows - just take that risk. And don’t be afraid to be awkward, it can lead to something great! 

Zain: Put yourself out there. Form a group of people who are like minded to help you grow. If you have 2 or 3 people beside you, it can really help boost your confidence, and you can put on initiatives together. Also it’ll be good to know you have a small community behind you. 

Create group chats for your classes. It really helps you connect with other students especially when you are all online. I was struggling in my history course for the first 2 classes because this teacher talks way too fast, and I didn't know what I was doing. I was thinking… am I the only one who feels this way? Then someone created a group chat and suddenly everyone was like, we don't know what we are doing either! It was great to know I’m not alone anymore. I felt so much better because who knows, I might have dropped out of the class. But then when you have people behind you, it’s not so hard to cope anymore. So connect with your peers and classmates. Nobody is as scary as they seem. It’s not embarrassing unless you think it’s embarrassing.