Their dedication to tutoring first-year students earned Liburdi Engineering Mentorship Awards for Charandeep Singh Virk and Matina Rahbar Ranji.

The $10,000 annual prize recognizes passionate participants in WinOne Tutorials. Established in 2019 by the WinOne Office for First-Year Engineering, the program promotes knowledge sharing between mentors and mentees regarding academics, degree pathways, extracurricular activities, co-operative education, and senior projects.

Recipients of the Liburdi Awards take on leadership roles in the delivery of the tutorials for a one-year period, giving them a chance to provide input into the program while working closely with Jennifer Johrendt, associate dean student affairs, and head of the program. Dr. Johrendt says that connecting mentors to mentees helps both to grow and learn together.

Virk and Ranji are third-year students who empathize with those they tutor.

“I remember being a first-year student and hoping that I could get some help with courses that were difficult and also just having someone to reach out to for general queries,” Virk says. “I’m glad that I’m now the person to help first- and second-year students who are in the same position as I once was.”

For Ranji, the discovery of other benefits was a pleasant surprise.

“One of my goals is to become a professor in engineering,” she says. “My WinOne experience has helped me so much with my teaching skills, but it has also made me realize that making a strong connection with students is an important key in tutoring.”

The mentorship award was established by Liburdi Engineering Ltd., led by materials engineering alumnus Joseph Liburdi (BASc 1967). Kiana Mokrian and Rohan Dhillon received the award in 2021.

For more information, or to learn how to become a WinOne tutorial mentor or mentee, visit WinOne Tutorial.

—Gam Macasaet