Making the cut
In December last year, 18 year old Ramudi Samarasekera was praying to ensure that her documents were in order as she submitted her application for the Karen McKellin International Leader of Tomorrow (ILOT) Award offered by the University of British Columbia (UBC) — a Canadian public research university ranked among the top 20 public Universities worldwide and among the top three in Canada.
Ramudi
An award that recognizes outstanding secondary school international students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement, leadership skills, involvement in student affairs and community service, it was by speaking to Ramudi did we realise how she managed to tick all the right boxes, which was not exactly a walk in the park.
Having joined Elizabeth Moir in 2012 as a scholarship student (and maintaining her scholarship till she graduated), Ramudi expressed her immense gratitude towards her alma mater.
As Moir has a diverse student body it set up the stage for Ramudi to interact with people from different cultures and be open to a lot of ideas. “I think the most important thing I would like to highlight is that they have provided a lot of opportunities, not just in school but outside of school as well.”
As her school pushed her to focus both on academics and extracurriculars equally it was quite easy to write her essays based off real life experiences.
Speaking about her A-level subjects and subsequent career path, Ramudi confesses she is not someone who focuses on planning her future 20 years ahead. Initially wanting to do Astrophysics, she choose Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Geography as her A-level subjects. However, falling in love with the Geography course led to her dropping Chemistry.
Apart from excelling at her academics, Ramudi also was an active sports person. From playing basketball, football and being a retired national swimmer who in turn got her swimming captaincy from 2018-2019. She also held the positions of house captain, prefect and community service President before she left school. She was also a participant at COMUN and SLMUN.
Ramudi also represented Sri Lanka in ‘18 in 18’ which was a project initiated to celebrate a century since the First World War organised by the United Nations under the recommendation of her Head Principal. “I wouldn’t have been able to meet people from Moldova, Macedonia and Esthonia. I wouldn’t have been able to walk the shoes of World War 1 soldiers…”, she reminisced, glad that she was to have been able to have that opportunity.For her summer internships, Ramudi worked and volunteered at Grassrooted Trust, Embark, Chibby’s friends, House of Hope, PetVet and other various NGO’s just to gain experience.
As a methodical person she was used to setting herself goals and responsibilities. Ramudi also is a lifeguard who renews her license every year because then she can legally help save peoples’ lives.
As UBC is lenient on the subjects you choose for your first two years of your degree, Ramudi is still indecisive on what her major might be.
Currently registered with the Arts faculty she is torn between remaining there or switching to the Natural Resources faculty as she hopes to work in the future on environmental conservation and sustainability. Her dream job is to work at the United Nations and/or come back to Sri Lanka to help with achieving its Sustainable Development Goals.
“I am grateful to my parents because they gave up a lot of things for both my sister and I,” Ramudi shared as she laughed about how it was her father that made sure she got to swimming practice when she didn’t feel like it and her mother who made sure she ate on time and functioned as a human being. Ramudi’s sister, Vinu Samarasekera ironically is the first Sri Lankan to have been awarded the ILOT award and Ramudi being the second. Both sisters are quite excited to be reunited in Canada.Ramudhi’s advice for future hopefuls apart from starting early on essay drafts and having patience is to, “take all opportunities that come your way. You never know what kind of experiences you’ll get. Accept who people are for themselves, set yourself apart without being amongst the ordinary.You need to spice up your life a bit and just go with the flow.”