Ambassador Feature

Meet University of Guelph-Humber Ambassador, Leily Mehrgan

If experience is the best teacher, it follows that Leily Mehgran is very well positioned to help others adapting to new surroundings and circumstances.

The 22-year-old University of Guelph-Humber student has lived her fair share of change.

Born in Canada, she moved to, and lived in, her parents’ native country of Iran before returning to Ontario for high school and ultimately George Brown College, where she attained a diploma in business.

Soon after, however, Leily found herself yearning for more academically – a hunger that brought her to Guelph-Humber where she is now majoring in psychology.

It was at the university’s Etobicoke campus where her Cam’s Kids journey began, and now continues in a significant way.

“My first year (of university), I was looking to get involved with societies and clubs but I was really picky…I didn’t want to do just anything,” recalls Leily.

“At a Cam’s Kids’ table that had been set up, I saw the words ‘mental health’ and ‘young people’ and ‘anxiety.’ Those key words clicked for me. I was like ‘OK, this is something I’m interested in.”

“They were giving out Cam’s Kids stickers. I told myself ‘If I get into this club, I’ll put a sticker on my laptop.’”

Following an application and interview process, Leily became a Cam’s Kids Ambassador. Said sticker is now firmly, and proudly, affixed to her laptop.

“As a young person, you may experience a lot of anxiety,” says Leily, referencing her own experience of adapting to life in not one but two countries.

If we know each other better, if we have a great bond, we can better help others,” she says, adding that would lead to the creation of more campus outreach activities beyond the annual Candy Cane and Chocolate Heart campaigns.

Meanwhile, Leily’s personal interactions with students struggling to adapt to their post-secondary reality are anchored in what she has learned from her own experience.

“My first couple of months (at Guelph-Humber), I needed to process everything before I could join clubs and talk to people; I needed the time to figure it out on my own,” she says.

Based on her own experience, Leily offers her best advice to students struggling to adjust to post-secondary school life.

“Be involved but don’t pressure yourself. There’s pressure to join clubs and have a lot of friends and do great in school. Put all that aside and just be you. Find what makes you happy and do it.”

Not unlike most all Ambassadors, Leily says her Cam’s Kids experience has better equipped her to help.

“If you see someone who is agitated, anxious or not talking, think of them as another human being. As much as you need support and need someone to talk to, they may also need that.”