Bhavya has been highly engaged at the University of Guelph campus. She started her co-curricular experiential learning (EL) as a peer helper, which she says prepared her for the rest of her university experiences. Once she got involved, she found herself to be more productive because she no longer had time to procrastinate on important deadlines. 

"If you find something you really enjoy, it will not burden your schedule."

Bhavya found that the more she got involved, the more opportunities would become available to her. She says, "If you find something you really enjoy, it will not burden your schedule". Through her EL engagement, Bhavya was able to develop short and long term learning goals, and find out what really interested her. "I have been able to connect my experience with my degree, and these opportunities have helped me realize that I would like a career in student affairs," she shares. 

Being involved brought a lot of benefits to Bhavya. She was able to improve her time management, communication skills and leadership skills, by having the opportunity to actively work on these skills, and receiving training and mentorship in those areas. "I have also had the opportunity to develop my creativity, innovation and complex problem solving skills," she says. Bhavya grew through her roles, gradually taking on more responsibility and demonstrating the ability to handle more professional roles as a student staff. In 2016, Bhavya was an OV (orientation volunteer). She went on to become a volunteer team leader and most recently, a student staff member on the 2018 Orientation Team. 

"As I got involved on campus I realized that this is something I want to keep doing. As a result I would like to explore student affairs as a career in the future."

While University can be challenging, being involved led Bhavya to having a very positive experience. She discovered, "As I got involved on campus I realized that this is something I want to keep doing. As a result I would like to explore student affairs as a career in the future." Bhavya found that the opportunities she got involved in were enjoyable, despite having a time commitment, and she felt supported in her roles and endeavours. Bhavya is currently conducting research on inclusion barriers for female and other underrepresented populations in the undergraduate computer science degree programs at U of G.