This TMU student got lost his first week in Canada. Now he helps guide new students through Orientation

On his second day in Canada, Ram Kanakamedala walked an hour and a half to a government office. He didn't yet know how to use the TTC. Walking home that January day in 2023, it hit him: "I'm in a new country, I've got to figure things out."

Kanakamedala grew up in the countryside of southeastern India. Landing in Toronto's "fast-paced go-go-go environment" in the dead of winter knocked him sideways. "I think the first few weeks I was basically lost 24/7," he says.

It wasn't just the new country, city and university. It was the small stuff, too. What was a "loonie"? What was a "toque"? He even had to learn how to make small talk about the weather. "People in Canada love talking about the weather," he says. "Back home, we never spoke about the weather."

From lost to leading

Three years later, Kanakamedala is the one helping new students make sense of TMU. He's the senior orientation and special projects lead on TMU's Orientation team. This spring, he won two Office of the Vice-Provost, Students 'Student Experience Awards': the Heather Lane Student Leadership Award and the Team Leadership Award.

"It didn't hit me until I was on the stage, how far I've come," he says. "I'm really thankful and grateful for everybody that supported me."

Getting there wasn't part of any plan. Near the end of his first year, Kanakamedala and some friends signed up to volunteer at TMU's annual student leadership conference "because we were bored, to be honest." He ended up loving it, and started volunteering for Orientation events.

He was especially drawn to events for incoming international students. He recognized their nervousness right away. "Getting the opportunity to help incoming students feel a sense of belonging and that they have someone to talk to meant a lot to me," he says.

Coding, coordinating and chasing "lollipop moments"

Today, his job blends that same care for students with coding and project management. He coordinates events and spaces, talks with campus clubs, manages the Orientation website, and finds ways to make things run smoother. This year, instead of manually copying details for more than 120 events from spreadsheets onto the website, he wrote code to automate it.

He also works the crowd at events, striking up conversations with strangers. One of his goals: create more "lollipop moments (external link) ” – an event where someone says or does something to make another person's life better.

He'd heard the phrase from another Orientation volunteer, who once asked one new student to hand a lollipop to another helping break the tension of new school nerves. Years later, that student told him she'd decided she wasn’t ready for university and was planning to move back home. That small moment made her feel comfortable enough to stay. She was also still dating the stranger who handed her the candy.

For Kanakamedala, the story is proof that small gestures can matter more than volunteers realize. When he first came to Canada, success meant good grades, a six-figure job, settling down. Now his definition has changed. "If I can make one student feel like this is their home for the next four years and that they're welcomed and celebrated on this campus," he says, "that is success to me as of now."

To see the full list of Orientation week events, visit the Orientation website.