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Jasmeet Sidhu, 1T0"What I like most of all about Trinity is that it's really small and close knit. I feel comfortable here."
It didn't take long after arriving at Trinity (courtesy of a prestigious University of Toronto National Scholarship) for Sidhu to find the opportunity she was looking for with Students for International Development, a student-run group that works to improve the health, education and environment of communities in the developing world. In May 2007, Sidhu and seven of her colleagues from SID flew to Kigama, Kenya, to work with local citizens and groups to promote sustainable developments there. Sidhu, who is interested in environmental issues, worked on a reforestation project in conjunction with a Swiss non-profit, talking with local farmers. "We educated them about the benefits of having certain species of plants on their land," says Sidhu. "They'll enrich the soil, provide shade for other plants, and some can provide an extra source of income." Sidhu was originally destined for Victoria College on the other side of U of T's campus, but a tour of Trinity and an afternoon spent speaking with its students convinced her that Trinity College was the place for her. "What I like most of all about Trinity is it's really small, it's really close knit. I felt really comfortable here." Despite her youth — she was named one of Canada's "Top 20 Under 20" by the Canadian non-profit group Youth in Motion in 2007 — Sidhu is a veteran environmentalist. In Grade 10 she started the Peel Environmental Youth Alliance, an umbrella network for student-run environmental groups in Peel Region. Within two years, PEYA was attracting upwards of 250 students to its monthly meetings and received an Ontario Trillium Grant for $215,000, which made it self-sustaining, just as Sidhu stepped back to focus on her university education. The achievement of launching such an ambitious project is a great feeling of satisfaction, Sidhu says. "The other day one of my friends who's involved in youth and non-profit organizations said, 'Have you heard of the Peel Environmental Youth Alliance?' And I'm like, 'I started that.' It's sort of come full circle."
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SEPTEMBER 2007 - "When I first came to university I was looking to get involved in anything," says Jasmeet Sidhu, a Trinity College Peace and Conflict Studies student entering her second year in September 2007. "But I knew I was interested in doing something international."