Students of UTM

It's really easy to get caught up in the rat race and forget about yourself. Take a break. Smell a flower. Cry a bit. After 5 years undergrad Im planning on being a teenager all through grad school.

After randomly approaching so many of you at awkward times and sharing your stories....I think it's time to share mine.
Coming into my 5th year I tried to pin point what I gained out of these last few years here at UTM. I saw a lot of the same faces all over campus and in classes but didn't get to know too many people. I needed a 4th year CCIT credit so I decided to do an independent research. Michael Jones supervised and inspired by HONY I thought it would be fun getting to know the stories behind some of these familiar faces and that's how this page started. It's been a long 5 years for me and this last semester running around photographing and getting to know some of you has been such a blast. I am finally graduating after all the blood sweat and tears (in the literal and metaphorical sense). So I leave you with this; be kind to each other, smile at each other and get to know each other, you won't believe where you might find some common ground. Most importantly DO NOT STEAL PEOPLES STUFF IN EXAMS lol...seriously not cool. I will miss you. All of you. Whether we had a class together and complained about how bad we were going to fail our tests or whether we just walked by each other occasionally. I'm thankful for it all. UofTears it's been a slice, thank you.

"Confidence is key, it's sexy. It's fierce. It's what will get you through the best and worst moments of your life. What good is it to have anything and everything if you can't look in the mirror and love the person looking back at you."

"Never change yourself. The absolute most important thing for you is not letting go of your own dignity. If you can keep to yourself no matter what at every single moment, you're gunna coast. Stress will come and anxiety will come and you'll get sh*tty sleep, that's just living, that's just being in university. Don't listen to other people when they tell you something negative. Listen to critique and take it seriously but fundamentally always be yourself."

"My personal style is a mix of everything...I can be edgy, I can be girly, I can be chic. I'm on Instagram a lot because it gives me a lot of inspiration."

Tomi is an aspiring doctor currently studying life sciences.

On figuring out who you are: "Its kind of frightening to see that something you're passionate about is maybe not the only thing you need so I've been trying other things. I joined a new art club and I've been doing shows and even there I'm having different opinions on what I'm doing and it's frightening. I came into university doing the whole "I'm gunna be a doctor" thing with big dreams and then I found this new side of art that I loved and got to experience all that and then to having a falling out with that as well it just kind of makes me realize you really can't figure it out this quickly. It's a process."

"Take your time with whatever you're doing. Everyone's always in a rush but I feel like the best work comes out of patience. Be patient with yourself and be patient with whatever it is you're doing."

Assia has been writing since she was 16. She has been published in 3 journals and released her own book which sold over 100 copies internationally. It's amazing how much talent our campus is home to.

"What's one thing you want the students of utm to know about you?"
"I always find a way."

"In your eyes, this is me, filtered, shaded, chain smoking. Like Pasolini, like Bowie, like Lynch, and indifferent to Wong."

"I always tell my friends this....when it comes to art, I like the way it makes me feel. I don't care about what genre it is. Like with music, I want music to make me feel happy, I want poetry to make me feel sad and I want books to make me feel informed."

"Hi I'm Humzah, I'm 4th year, two more days in undergrad, I got into law school starting in September at Queens. I bought a house and came to UTM as a mature student it was difficult to balance work and school. UofT is a difficult school to juggle real life and school work. In June I'm travelling to Jamaica and then travelling to Cancun as a graduation gift to my self. I don't have social media it's just something that doesn't appeal to me as a 28 year old. Everyone pretends to be all happy and it's not real life I believe in building connections."

"2 years back I was at a party for my dads boss and I saw a magician perform. It inspired me to start learning magic. A year later we were at this party for my dads boss again and the same magician was there. I spoke with him and showed him what I've learned and he decided to take me on as a student and teach me his tricks."

"Why do you love doing magic tricks for people?"

"The reaction I get from people when I do a trick makes me feel awesome cause I remember the way I felt seeing it for the first time."