“One of the most intelligent and remarkable students I have ever met” – student senator recognized with president’s leadership award

In a house full of extended family and friends, Ahmed Abdalla’s somehow found a quiet room to join a Zoom call.

It’s been years since he’s been back in Saudi Arabia so it’s been a joyous, high-volume and non-stop reunion with lots of young cousins he’s meeting for the first time.

Even at 6 p.m., the temperature outside still hovers around 50 degrees Celsius. Perfect weather, says his family.  After living in Canada for six years, Ahmed begs to differ. No one does much of anything until the sun sets so dinner is still hours away. There’s lots of time to talk.

Ahmed will be back in Hamilton in time for convocation – it’ll will be his second major ceremony this year. A few months ago, he became a Canadian citizen. “Attending a top university like McMaster, earning my degree and becoming a Canadian citizen are privileges that are beyond the reach of so many people where I come from. I’m incredibly fortunate to have had so many opportunities come my way.”

At convocation, one of Canada’s newest citizens will be getting both his honours bachelor of science degree and a President’s Award of Excellence for Student Leadership.  The award recognizes undergrads in their final year who’ve demonstrated outstanding student leadership qualities and whose achievements have benefited other students and contributed to the betterment of the university community.

He found out he’d won the award when he got an email from the president’s office.  “Most students don’t get an email from the president. I thought this could go one of two ways so I made sure to read the email very carefully.” The news was good and unexpected. “I was ecstatic.”

The award recognizes Ahmed’s two years as the undergraduate science student representative on the university’s Senate. Ahmed was in second year when he saw an Instagram post about Senate elections and a call for candidates – he’s passionate about democracy but knew nothing about the Senate. He asked friends and classmates who also knew nothing.

“I decided to find out everything I could about the Senate and try my luck at winning my first ever election. I applied and then forgot about it.” As Ahmed would tell you, the Senate has approximately 65 members, including 12 students representing McMaster’s six Faculties. The Senate determines academic policy, which includes new academic programs, changes in curriculum, standards for admission, matters arising in connection with the award of scholarships and prizes, examination policy, academic regulations, procedures for student appeals, criteria and procedures for granting tenure and promotion to faculty members and codes of conduct for students.

No one else ran for the seat so Ahmed was acclaimed – part of him wishes he could’ve campaigned for votes.

Six months later, Ahmed found himself at a reception for new senators. “I was in a room with amazing people who have a lot of say when it comes to what happens at the university. That’s when I realized I better make something of this opportunity.”

He’d go on to learn the inner workings of the university. “It’s a huge, complex organization with so many constituents who all have complementary roles.”

Ahmed served on the Student Affairs and Academic Integrity Committees and was one of 10 members on the Committee for Recommending a President. Over the next nine months, he gained a new appreciation for the role, responsibilities, pressures and demands of being a university president. “Students might think the president is just the boss of the provost. But the president sets the tone within the university and builds the university’s reputation beyond the campus.”

The leadership award also recognized Ahmed’s work co-founding the McMaster Sudanese Students’ Association (his parents are from Sudan) and Multipolar Marauder, a student club that provides a forum for healthy discussion and respectful debate about world affairs and social issues. He was the club’s former vice-president of finance and its current co-president.

Assistant professor Shaiya Robinson nominated Ahmed for the leadership award – “one of the most intelligent and remarkable students I’ve ever met.” They first connected at a Meet the Profs event organized by the Life Sciences Society. Ahmed introduced himself by saying he’d yet to take one of her courses. Shaiya said they needed to do something about that. Not only did he take one of her courses the following term, he became Shaiya’s research assistant for a department-wide study exploring frequent low stake evaluations, the strategic use of the McMaster student absence form and time management by students.

“He’s been my right-hand guy and co-captain ever since,” says Shaiya. “Over the years, we’ve had countless conversations around our study and some of my courses. I’ve always valued Ahmed’s opinion, and our chats have inspired changes in how I design assignments and structure some of my courses.”

The learning’s gone both ways. “Dr. Robinson taught me how to be fair and kind. She makes all of her students feel at ease and welcome.”

Ahmed arrived at McMaster with dreams of becoming a physician. After 16 months of co-op work terms, he’s now thinking about bioinformatics and building a career at the intersection of biology and computer science. “It’s such a promising field with so many breakthroughs yet to come.”

Would he ever consider being a university president? “I told the committee members that they might see me in 30 or 40 years sitting on the other side of the table. I now know what they talk about behind closed doors.”