Zain Shafique is not your average college student. When his birth country of Pakistan was hit by floods, Shafique chose to volunteer with UNICEF to help victims. After aiding his countrymen, he decided to study abroad in a country with a much different culture and climate, a decision that turned out to be a great one.   

Since arriving at Durham College in 2012, he has been elected as the Board of Governors’ student representative; serves as an international student mentor and; hosts his own radio show on Riot Radio. All that on top of his academic studies in the college’s Computer Programmer Analyst program.

“The one and only factor that motivated me is my mindset of giving back to society as much as I can in order to make a positive difference,” said Shafique.

The focus of his radio show, Culture Shake with Zain, is to reach out to international students and raise their awareness of the activities and opportunities available to them at Durham College. Shafique encourages students to get out of their dorm rooms and take advantage of what the campus and surrounding area have to offer.

“I know that there is still a huge population of students that do not know about the different activities which are present on the campus,” said Shafique. “It is really beneficial for them to know how to get involved.”

While behind the microphone Shafique draws on the experience he obtained while working in Pakistan as part of UNICEF where he was part of Achay Dost, a radio show for the Youth of Pakistan. On Culture Shake, he stresses that international students need to embrace the diversity of the people and experiences that Canada has to offer and get out of their comfort zone and try new things.