As I sit down to reflect on my experience as a Laidlaw scholar, I'm reminded of how incredibly lucky I am to have received this opportunity. A summer spent doing a virtual internship for a mental health cause with Think Pacific in Fiji and a summer spent doing immunology research at York equate to two wonderful summers. During this time, I have learnt so much about the two different academic avenues but also a lot about what it means to be a global citizen and an ethical leader. A major reason for this is because of my supervisors. 

During my internship for Think Pacific, I was lucky enough to meet Naomi and Lavenia who helped me realise that to become a good leader, it is necessary to experience good leadership. Naomi and Lavenia were instrumental in teaching me about how to give and receive constructive feedback, and how to be a leader who can effectively communicate their boundaries with their peers. They were both incredibly welcoming and willing to share about Fijian culture regardless of any of our backgrounds. Having experienced situations where I have been an ethnic minority and have felt like an imposition in Hong Kong where I study, this was particularly wonderful. It gave me an insight into how feelings of inferiority do not always have to be combatted with anger but can be dealt with using compassion and grace. 

My time in York was nothing short of wonderful. Although I was only there for six short weeks, I felt as though I was leaving home. I was blessed to have to the most brilliant and kind supervisor, Dave Boucher. Dave(yes we are on a first name basis!) was unlike any other science professor I had ever met. He immediately made me feel welcome and as part of the lab team. However, what really surprised me about Dave was how willing he was to teach even the simplest techniques and how much he enjoyed this process. It didn't matter if he had run an SDS-Page gel a thousand times, he still taught it to me with so much fascination. It was evident that Dave cared about his students, and not only was this incredibly inspiring, but made us feel and work together as a team. Dave accepted all of his students and met with them exactly where they were, and this was incredibly appreciated. The rest of the lab team were no different.  By the end of the summer we had an eternal summer playlist! 

From these experiences, I have learned that ethical leadership  truly comes down to being a welcoming, open minded, compassion and kind person. It means championing and supporting the people I work with whether it's for a group project or a general lab, the same way Naomi and Lavenia did for me. It means doing whatever I can to never lose the child like wonder I have for learning and the fascination I have with biomedical sciences and gender studies, so that this can translate to the people I am working with, the same way Dave did for me. To be a global citizen means to be a Laidlaw scholar who has been lucky enough to have and learn from these experiences. It means having been given the immense priveledge to live for extended periods of time in Botswana, Hong Kong, the US and the UK. It means using the unique positionally these experiences have given me for good, and I hope I get to do just that. 

Thank you to Dave, Naomi and Lavenia. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the Laidlaw program.