Amanda Daley

Courtice, Ontario
Psychology & Sociology, Trent University in Oshawa

When Amanda Daley started out as a student at Trent University in Oshawa, she knew that she wanted to explore a path that would enable her to help others.

“I really enjoyed learning about social psychology and understanding why people behave the way they do in social settings,” she explains, describing how compelling she found it to study psychological experiments that revealed behavioural phenomena like the bystander effect, and the differences between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations.

Driven by these interests, Amanda chose to pursue a joint major in Psychology and Sociology at Trent in Oshawa. To complement her academic studies, Amanda also got involved in the Peer Mentoring Program on the Oshawa campus. Through this program she led study groups and worked one-on-one with students who needed extra help on assignments. Her volunteer work as a peer mentor proved to be pivotal for Amanda, not just from a career perspective, but in terms of her personal development as well.

“I’m very proud of being a peer mentor - it opened up doors for me at Trent in Oshawa, and enabled me to get connected on campus and to branch out,” Amanda says, adding that she enjoyed interacting and making friends with the other students. “I was really shy in high school, and now I’m out there speaking in front of people!”

Amanda blossomed through these experiences, and soon became a lead student organizer for other campus events, like Trent Identity Week. In addition to her studies and working part-time in the paint shop at the General Motors plant, Amanda engaged her fellow students by coordinating a Trent t-shirt making night, hip-hop dance lessons, a bingo night, and a student-faculty mixer providing Trent in Oshawa students with a chance to learn more about their professors’ research interests.

As she prepares to graduate this June, Amanda’s career path has now crystallized into a focus on human resources. She has just been accepted into the Masters of Human Resources Management program at York University, which she looks forward to commencing in September.

“I’m really happy with myself now, and feel ready to pursue my Master’s degree,” she says with a smile, reflecting on all she has learned while at Trent. “Because it’s a small campus, you have an opportunity to shine a bit more. My time here at Trent has been very special. I’ve loved it here.”