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“It's a funny story,” says Gaurav Shah, a third-year Global Business and Digital Arts (GBDA) student, about his involvement in extracurriculars. “I joined 15 clubs in first year, and then I had to immediately drop a lot of them. I was a little too enthusiastic.”

After adjusting to manage a busy class schedule along with co-op terms, Gaurav has maintained an impressive list of extracurriculars. Starting as a first-year rep, then advancing to VP to president, he's most proud of his involvement with the GBDA Society, which offers academic resources, community building and social events to fellow GBDA students. He’s also been part of , a student-run arts club, and worked as a mentor for the design incubator . Off campus, he volunteers with , a student-run organization that builds software for non-profits, and has been involved in community building through the UW Marketing Association, the UW Product Management Club and the makers collective .

As an international student who could’ve studied UX design anywhere, Gaurav says it was his involvement in clubs and extracurriculars that made his undergraduate experience so special. “That's the thing that I couldn't have gotten anywhere else,” he says. “It really shaped the person that I am today.”

Many of these activities are only made possible through the Stratford School Student Initiatives Fund, which supports Stratford student-led initiatives that enhance the student experience and foster a sense of leadership and community. With the generous help of donors, groups like Creator’s Collective can print their biannual magazine and host gallery openings to empower students’ creativity and collaboration.

“You learn how to network, how to communicate, how to work in a team, collaborate and be a good leader,” Gaurav says, reflecting on the soft skills he gained through the GBDA Society – skills that have supported him through his co-ops, academic terms and beyond. But what had the greatest impact was the connections he made and the confidence he developed. “Clubs will push you to be more than who you are, to do things that you previously thought you couldn't do. And that's what happened every semester,” he adds. “With these clubs, I had the resources to break through that ceiling of what I thought was not possible.”

Because of the Stratford School Student Initiatives Fund supporting student-led activities, Gaurav was able to grow as a leader and community builder, whether it was through coding for a local non-profit or reviving the GBDA On Air podcast to reach incoming students. “Even a small donation can have such a big impact,” he says, highlighting the GBDA Society’s coffee program as an example. In the summer term, a simple initiative like gathering together to share iced coffee and conversation helped students make new connections and feel cared for. “That became part of the culture at the Stratford campus. It was such a small thing, but it made students’ lives so much better.”