Donor support inspires student leader

Abdul Abbasi

In January 2020, 16-year-old Abdul Abbasi and his family left the bustling subtropical city of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, their most treasured belongings packed into four suitcases.

Four days later, he walked into his first Canadian high school class in a small city in Alberta. Despite the immense change, Abbasi immediately felt at home, he says.

“I love Camrose. I could live my whole life in Camrose,” he adds. “When I moved to Canada, everyone was so welcoming. Everyone was helpful. That had a big effect on me.”

Abbasi credits generous support from donors for allowing him to thrive academically and ultimately give back to the community that welcomed him.

Now he is a champion for students amid rising financial pressures, advocating for resources to address urgent needs like food insecurity and increased living costs. The University of Alberta fundraising campaign, Shape the Future, gives donors the opportunity to make a difference directly to those areas.

Abbasi is now better positioned to help bring awareness to those needs. This spring, he became the first and only student from the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus to be elected to the U of A Students' Union executive committee in the 20 years since Augustana joined the institution. As the vice-president external, Abbasi represents all 36,000 U of A undergraduates to the government and broader community, advocating for student needs.

“I work towards making sure [student] concerns are heard because we are in an affordability crisis,” says Abbasi, who is in his fourth year of an interdisciplinary BA in Law, Crime and Justice Studies at Augustana. Juggling the cost of rent and food with tuition remains a challenge for today’s students, he says. “Education should be a right, not a privilege — and it is more difficult than it has been in years.”

Shape the Future is a multi-year initiative raising funds to support students’ most pressing needs. With Alberta’s population projected to surpass five million by 2030, the U of A is working to ensure a growing student body can thrive. Gifts to Shape the Future can be directed to  student priorities, including scholarships, awards and bursaries, experiential learning opportunities and campus facilities.

Support from donors not only allows students to focus on academics, but also inspires them to contribute to their communities, says Abbasi.

“As much as you want to give back, if you are hungry, if you don’t have a roof over your head, you will focus on that first,” he adds. “It’s really important to make sure students can focus on what they’re passionate about; that students can focus on their future.”

Abbasi speaks from personal experience. Scholarships helped alleviate his financial stress, inspiring him to pursue student governance and other community-oriented initiatives. For example, last fall, Abbasi took part in a course titled The Community Partnership Project, which requires students to work on a practical issue raised by a community group. Over the semester, he and a small group of peers supported the Food Artisans of Camrose County by comparing the price of local food to the same items in the grocery store. The students visited farms and family-owned shops, ultimately finding that local food was actually more affordable.

“Yes, studying is important … but you also need to practice what you’re learning. These opportunities help you give back to the community but at the same time you learn how to work with a partner, with a business, with an employer. All of that will help a lot when you go into the workforce,” says Abbasi.

Thinking back to his first days in Canada, Abbasi credits the kindness of the Camrose community for sparking his desire to advocate for others.

“Your donation makes a big difference on who [students] are, who they become and how their lives turn out,” he says. “Once they have the means to give back, they’ll remember how important [generosity] was to them.”