Class of 2023: Patricia Angeles (BSc Food, Nutrition and Health)
Major in Food, Nutrition and Health
Patricia Angeles
What challenges did you encounter while being a student and how did you overcome them?
One challenge that I encountered as a student was trying to manage my time, especially since I had a long commute to campus from Surrey. I overcame this challenge by testing out different time management strategies. What really helped me was making time blocks in my schedule for specific tasks in my to-do list and prioritizing tasks based on both urgency and importance. I also found that completing most of these tasks on campus allowed me to leave campus at later times of the day and actually made my commute time shorter as I avoided rush hour traffic.
Do you recommend students get involved in extra-curriculars? What did you do outside of the classroom?
I highly recommend students to get involved in extracurricular activities to explore their career interests and start their career development as an undergraduate student. Especially when attending a university, I strongly believe you will get the most out of your degree by complimenting your course content with work and volunteer experience.
Some things I was involved in were the UBC Work Learn Program, UBC Nutrikids, and LFS ACE Team. As someone who loves to work with kids, my first work experience as a Work Learn student was being a daycare assistant on campus. I later joined UBC Nutrikids as a volunteer that provided nutrition education workshops to school-aged children in Vancouver and eventually became the Administrative Coordinator for the club in my last year of my undergrad to mentor volunteers. To become more involved in the LFS community, I also took on a team lead role for the LFS ACE Team which is a student-led initiative to help fellow LFS students with academic success and career development.
All of these experiences allowed me to take on leadership roles that I never would have imagined taking on when I was in first year. I was able to learn many things about my work style, my preferences in the work environment, and my strengths in the workplace which have all shaped my career aspirations. These opportunities also allowed me to meet many supportive mentors that have always encouraged me to take on new challenges and provided me with the tools and resources to develop my skills.
What is the next step for you? Do you have plans post-graduation?
After my undergraduate degree, I will be moving on to the Master’s of Nutrition and Dietetics (MND) program at UBC to pursue becoming a dietitian. As a dietitian, I aim to become involved in the community and work closely with the pediatric population.
What advice do you have for students?
My advice for students is to be involved in the UBC community. Get to know your peers and others from different faculties. UBC is such a huge campus and being a student is a great opportunity to meet amazing new people to learn from and build friendships with.
Take the time to research programs and extracurricular that are available to UBC and LFS students. This is not limited to just searching online, you can also attend info sessions, speak to LFS Student Services about how to get involved, go to networking events, etc.
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