Third year Trinity student Emily Tsui is a force to be reckoned with. Specializing in International Relations and minoring in German Business and Political Science, Tsui is the President of the Association of Political Science Students (APSS), and Vice President Communications for the International Relations Society. This Scarborough native’s resumé is nothing short of impressive.
It’s a brisk, sunny Friday in Toronto and Emily and I have resorted to doing our interview over the phone due to my nursing a violent cold. Nevertheless, it feels as though we are still chatting over a cup of coffee, sharing our mutual love for The Mindy Project, classical music (she plays classical guitar), and sometimes, for doing nothing at all.
Hard to believe for someone like Emily, who, on top of her aforementioned commitments, is part of various committees and is also studying for the LSAT. So I begin by asking her one of my most pressing questions—how does she do it all?
“Most of the time I don’t really know,” she laughs. “I’m very lucky to have friends who are very supportive. They’re understanding of the fact that I’m very busy and they don’t demand too much of me.” Not only this, but Emily also says that she’s learned that every minute of the day is precious one. “I was in Germany last summer and if there’s one thing they do consistently well it’s being efficient. Here, waiting for the TTC is like waiting for the Leafs to win the Stanley Cup,” she quips. “But in Germany, if the train’s supposed to be there at 1:52, it’s there at 1:52. In those two months I learned the value of a minute. But you don’t really get that here in Toronto.”
This efficiency appears to have paid off immensely for Emily, who has been working hard to increase the APSS’s presence on campus since second year. “When I was in first year, one of my friends from Model UN asked me if I would be interested in doing Communications for APSS. I didn’t really know what that meant but I thought, sure. The day of the election I was getting cold feet. I was at sushi with my parents and my friend had to call me that day to ask if I was coming.”
But Emily quickly got over her uncertainty and went for it, attaining the position of Vice President Communications and, ultimately, helping the student organization drastically increase their presence on campus. “I spent a lot of my first year [with the APSS] contacting a lot of people and developing networks for communications, so by the end we had built a sustainable communications structure.”
It’s no surprise then that Emily would eventually become President of the APSS, especially after having cultivated a passion for bringing the Political Science community together. “One of my biggest goals has been to develop cohortship amongst Political Science students. We kept the Lunch and Learn initiative from last year, but [this year] we also began the Panel Discussion initiative where we host three separate panels on Canadian Politics, International Relations, and Civil Society. We’re also developing more ways for students to get involved. So this year we started the Undergraduate Research Colloquium where we would allow students to present their work to a panel of professors and receive constructive criticism [in return].”
And though these initiatives have happened on Emily’s watch, she is a humble leader who gives credit where credit is due—to her fellow teammates. “There are a lot of times where I could just keep talking for hours on end, but I’ve learned to stop talking because I work with a brilliant executive with brilliant ideas,” she says.
At the end of our conversation, I ask Emily what her goals and aspirations are for the future. “I would really like to go to law school. But at the same time, I’m really interested in Arctic Security—that’s where my research interests lie. I don’t know how I could combine the two, but that’s what I’m interested in. With regard to short-term goals, I would honestly like to meet more people. This LSAT is taking over my life—I hate it!” she laughs.
And while it’s no coincidence that the APSS’s most recent Lunch and Learn was on Arctic security, it just goes to show how Emily can effectively translate her passions into reality—whether she’s bringing students together, chasing her own dreams, or maybe even catching an episode of The Mindy Project, Emily shows that a little dedication, efficiency, and balance can go a long way.Â