Kimia Yeganeh is a fifth year Chemistry and Biological Engineering student with a minor in Commerce. I sat down with her this week to discuss her role as Co-President of the Chemical and Biological Engineering (CHBE) Undergraduate Council.
In describing the CHBE Undergraduate Council, Kimia says, “We are really the bond between the students and the faculty.” She explains that she was involved on the Council as Secretary before becoming Co-President last September. “I really enjoy being on the Council,” she said.
I asked her what her driving impulse is to be involved on campus and take on leadership roles. “I like to feel useful,” she says, and laughs. “And having a lot of things on my plate just makes me feel better.” She adds that “the more things I have to do, the more efficient I become, so I enjoy it.”
“I think having so many people in one group is a challenge, so I’m lucky to have a co-president that I can count on,” Kimia says of her greatest challenge in her role. Her fellow Co-President is Tyler Wood, also a senior Chemical and Biological Engineering student. “I think my favorite part would be making a difference. You have a big enough responsibility to actually have a say and make a change and urge for an event –even if it’s [just] an event, if it will make people happy…I really enjoy that.”
She describes her biggest success as an undergraduate student. “I really believe in meeting different people and I think you can learn something from everyone. And I really like the multicultural environment at UBC as well as Vancouver and the fact that you can get to meet so many people from all around the world. So this created an interest in me to travel. So I spent last summer in Germany. Four months I worked in Germany and I loved it so much that now I can’t get enough of it. So now I’m applying for internships for this summer, again in Germany, in Switzerland. It really gave me perspective, and I think that’s because of the multicultural environment at UBC. I would have never had the interest to go abroad [otherwise].”
Kimia advises other student to get involved. To student leaders, she says, “don’t be scared,” and “do things that scare you,” she laughs. “Even the smallest step in a new direction can lead to many changes down the road.”
“I’m not sure where I’m going to end up,” says Kimia. But she sees herself, “definitely going to more countries, learning a couple more languages. And I want to work for a few years, maybe I’ll come back and do grad school, but for now I really want to have a hands-on experience.”