Ashwini Selvakumaran is a St. Michael’s student going into her third year of PCJ, double-minoring in Diaspora and Transnational Studies and English. She is deeply invested in spurring dynamic change, which she enacts through her extensive community involvement.

It was Ashwini’s lived experiences observing poverty, gender inequality, unequal access to education, climate change, and more in Malaysia, Yemen, New York, and Canada that led to her choosing PCJ. She wanted to learn more, as well as solidify her passion to act and mobilize youth into tangible action.

This passion has led Ashwini to serve as the Youth Ambassador for Plan International Canada and to be selected as a Young Director on the Iroquoia Bruce Trails Board by G(irls)20. She was also recently elected Chair of the Halton Newcomer Youth Steering Committee. Through these experiences, Ashwini learned the importance of going outside of her comfort zone: it generates immense creativity amongst the variety of available ideas, allowing information to be consumed in a powerful way. These initiatives also allowed her to observe how a few voices can go a long way in creating a strong collective movement.

Ashwini’s time in PCJ has contributed to her success in these experiences. She honed her research skills and used them so that her voice could be a power to encourage change and growth. Through her cohort of peers, she has learned that when like-minded people come together to create change, they are able to achieve a common goal.

Ashwini is currently working on a publication with the University of Toronto called COVID-19 Perspectives. Their aim is to learn more about how COVID-19 has impacted the global student community in terms of working, learning, and their regular day-to-day lives. They will be selecting 19 students to further interview and highlight in a short-story e-book. Fill out the survey here by Friday, July 10th to get involved! You can also follow the project on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date.

If you would like to be the next PCJ featured student, fill out the form here