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Holly Barsoum

Holly Barsoum

University of Waterloo

Career Roadmap

Holly's work combines: Education, Environment & Nature, and Teaching / Mentoring

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Day In The Life

Coordinator, International Student Programs

I coordinate social programs to help new international students transition to life in Canada.

Skills & Education

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution

    University of Waterloo

Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be an Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors:

High School

Bachelor's Degree: Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution

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Life & Career Milestones

My path in life took a while to figure out

  • 1.

    Fell in love with learning about new cultures and diverse people, thanks to my parents.

  • 2.

    Began to learn on my own through travel, reading, documentaries, and interacting with others.

  • 3.

    Chose a University program with classes related to culture, religion, psychology, and peacebuilding.

  • 4.

    Added a Global Engagement Specialization to my undergraduate degree, and did a co-op term abroad.

  • 5.

    Continued to learn and travel and grow (forever)!

Defining Moments

How I responded to discouragement

  • THE NOISE

    Messages from Society in general:

    You can't make a living playing outside.

  • How I responded:

    They were partially right - it is difficult to make a large income working in outdoor education. But when I started aligning my personal values (adventure, learning, relationships, health, and achievement) I realized that wasn't important to me. I'm not yet working in outdoor education (YET), but I firmly believe I'm well on my way there. I overcame the noise by knowing what to base my decisions on and realizing that the more I loved my decisions, the less it mattered if others did.

Experiences and challenges that shaped me

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  • It was important to give myself time to accept what was happening, and then to find a healthy outlet for my emotions. It took a long time to stop venting those feelings through harmful neurotic tendencies and start talking/working through them.