Two outstanding students on receiving top honour for leadership

How can I make a difference? For Jamie Rice (Biomedical Sciences ’24) and Husnaa Zamarai (Marketing Management ’24), two of this year’s top students, this is more than a question. It is a passion that has fueled and enhanced their experience at Toronto Metropolitan University. 

Rice and Zamarai are two of 127 outstanding students who were recognized at the TMU Student Experience Awards on April 4 where they both were featured speakers. The Student Experience Awards are presented each year by the Office of the Vice-Provost, Students, to  graduating students in recognition of their contributions to the university community.

“Looking back four years, I’m not recognizable as a person. That’s how much I’ve grown,” says Rice, who received a Dennis Mock Student University-wide Leadership Award in April. “TMU gave me the opportunity to challenge myself and I’ve flourished.”

Rice started in TMU’s Faculty of Science as a mature student with more than 2,000 technical hours in labs. He understood immediately that watching online videos was not a replacement for in-person lab experience. “The pandemic is where I saw so many gaps that made me step into new opportunities. In that sense, I became a ‘yes, and …’ person.”

As part of the Undergraduate Science Society, Rice worked with professors across chemistry, biology and physics to create a bootcamp to help students learn without worrying about grades. Hundreds of students signed up and the classes continue today. Throughout his time at TMU, he has mentored first-year students and advocated for mental health support.

“One thing I’ve always struggled with is the lack of queer representation in STEM,” he says. As part of his ‘yes, and’ approach, he joined Toronto MetRobotics. In addition to being a team member, he worked to bring together two faculties – Faculty of Science and Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science – as collaborators to significantly grow the science portfolio and improve the team’s performance in international competition. 

“When I went to Utah representing the school at an international robotics competition, I made sure to always wear my Pride lanyard.” 

Among his many achievements at TMU, Rice is most proud of living his authentic self on campus and encouraging and supporting others to do the same. As lead of the Queer Space, he collaborated with the Centre for Women and Trans People and the Trans Collective to create safe spaces on campus for queer and non-binary folk, and women. 

Through his work with the Pre-Medical Science Society, he helped launch a series of events aimed at advancing equity for marginalized groups in health care and laid the groundwork for future events focused on breaking down these barriers for trans people.  

“I initially thought I’d go to med school, but all of my experiences at TMU have led me to the revelation that I should be a teacher. I love working with people, developing them, being a mentor – that sounds like a teacher I would have wanted.” 

Paying it forward

A student leader and community volunteer throughout high school, Husnaa Zamarai chose Ted Rogers School of Management (TRSM) in part because of the opportunities to make a difference. 

Having benefitted from community organizations such as the Girls E-Mentorship program (GEM), which supports girls in high school facing social economic barriers, Zamarai is “a big advocate of paying it forward. I want to return that energy and create new initiatives that can benefit the community around me.” She also received a Dennis Mock Student University-wide Leadership Award in April.

Throughout her many volunteer efforts and especially through her role as president of the Ted Rogers Students Society (TRSS), where she advocates for TRSM’s 12,600 plus undergraduate commerce students and oversees an operation budget of $1.3 million, Zamarai has focused on listening to students through ongoing outreach and using this data to break down barriers to education.

With only one multi-faith space on campus, Zamarai initiated the project to create the EDI Well-Being Space during her time on the TRSS EDI Committee. Launched in February 2023, the space received the Canadian Association of Business Students (CABS) Best Wellness Initiative Award. 

Under her leadership, TRSS launched a course materials bursary and worked with the TRSM Student Engagement team to launch another CABS award-winning initiative. The TRSS Food Insecurity Project provides meal passes to students facing immediate food insecurities. The meal packs are loaded onto student OneCards using back-end financial need indicators through the AwardSpring database, ensuring student privacy and minimizing stigma. 

The project led to the Free Food Initiative, a collaboration between the TMU Student Societies, Office of the Vice-Provost, Students, and TMU Eats, providing free food to 17,000 undergrad students during this exam season.

Another of Zamarai’s major projects this year was investing $55,000 in TRSS surplus funds to revitalize poorly equipped spaces in the business school. “I worked with the TRSM facilities team and suppliers to hand-pick items that would meet the needs of students while also fitting into the existing design scheme of the school.” Students from across the university use the space. 

As she decides on next steps, Zamaria knows she wants to “use the skills I learned as a student leader in an actual business environment. At the same time I want to make sure there is a giving back aspect integrated into my career – that’s what I find most fulfilling.”