Guyanese student proves himself a natural leader in Canada

Jan 03, 2009 News

Having left Guyana to pursue a higher education in Canada in 2004, Tahir Khan readied himself for the onslaught of new cultures, new customs, and a variety of new people, which he was sure he would find at Centennial College in Scarborough, Toronto.

Tahir Khan exhibited qualities of a natural leader and eventually became the Student President of Centennial College.

He had finished his secondary schooling at Queen’s College in 2002.
Khan explained that he was somewhat troubled. “Guyana is very good for education up to high school, but there’s only one university in the entire country.”

He added that he found too many distractions in Guyana. “That’s why I decided to go elsewhere for college.” One of the things which drew him towards Canada was the fact that he already had a lot of friends and relatives living in Toronto.

The culture shock which he thought he was in for did not materialize, after he found many persons of Guyanese origin in Toronto.

“I immediately felt at home, even when I was meeting people from India and Latin America. The cultures and the food are similar,” explained the 24-year-old.

As he started university, he took a course in Business Information Systems, a unique combination of his two favourite topics: business and computers.

The two-year programme provided him with a general business foundation and an introduction to computer systems analysis, design and programming. The project-based learning introduced him to a hands-on environment that aided learning of complex concepts.

During his time at university, Khan explained, he began to take an interest in student government, noticing that the Centennial College Student Association had sponsored a lot of fun events on campus. Soon after this, he decided that he wanted to get involved.

It was not until his second semester that Khan was nominated for the position of School of Business Representative.

Similar to an election anywhere else in the world, Khan said, “I ran my campaign, and then I won.”
The following year, another position became vacant: the Director of Social Programming. He told this newspaper that he was surprised that he won that position, too. “In that position,” Khan said, “I was organizing all sorts of social activities and campus events to get students to socialize.”

In 2006, Khan graduated and then enrolled in a three-year programme at the same university. That programme dealt with Business Administration. “I wanted to do this course so that I could improve my business skills.”

While he was taking this second course at the university, Khan was nominated as Student President, a nomination which he took, and won the election in an unprecedented landslide victory in mid 2008.
Prior to this, Khan had also served as Campus Vice President for the main campus of Centennial College some time.

Since then, Khan has completed the Business Administration Program in June 2008, and is presently working as the Student President of Centennial College. Having entered the university as an International Student, not knowing anyone, Khan has come a long way, running in four different elections, wining all of them.

Khan explained that he decided to run for President because he wanted to effect a change. He said that, since he was working with the student association, being able to help other students really gave him a sense of purpose.

Saying that holding his post as President does not really affect his studies, Khan said that he was finished with university, and was only taking two courses (in French and Statistics) as he served as President.

“Acting as President, it’s a full time job,” he said. “So I’m just taking two courses. I already got two advanced diplomas, so right now I’m done. It’s just that being the President, it is such a prestige. That’s why I’m sticking around for another year.”

He added that, as President, he got to network and he got to meet many different kinds of people.
Looking to the future, Khan said that he will either go on to university to pursue a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Commerce, or he will work for some time, so he can save some money.

He said that he is also looking at getting his Permanent Residency in Canada, primarily for the reason that, as a Permanent Resident, tuition fees will be about four times cheaper than as an International Student.
At the same time, Khan said, he definitely wants to return home after he has developed himself, at least in terms of education.

“I’m a Guyanese person who went to Canada,” said Khan, “I enrolled in a college where I didn’t know anyone, and now I’m the President of the Association, where we deal with millions of dollars. Because of this, I don’t think any Guyanese person should ever underestimate themselves. I didn’t know I had such potential until I was out there, and then I found out what was inside of me. Never underestimate yourself and your ability to adapt. You can achieve anything you put you mind to.”