During her time at Champlain, Salma Rehimini (International Baccalaureate, 2016) co-founded the Export Support initiative which collects used school items in order to redistribute them to disadvantaged children, including to families in her native country of Morocco.
“With my friends in the IB program, we started a non-profit organization,” she said. “I also led a leadership and support group for young Muslim girls to empower them to contribute to their communities and share the common challenges they face in their journey to become strong leaders.”
She was recognized by the Loran scholarship (valued at $100,000) for her involvement, including being captain of the soccer team and being part of an educational initiative aiming to teach kindergarten and elementary school students about healthy habits.
Salma said that she felt supported by the Champlain community to take part in these kinds of activities and apply for a high profile, national scholarship.
“Champlain has that thing where it makes everyone feel like they belong,” she said.
Salma was always passionate about going into health and felt a strong desire to work in pediatrics.
“I always took pleasure in taking care of my younger siblings and cousins while nurturing a strong passion for science. I used to love going to the Doctor to get all my questions answered because I was most curious about the human body. I tried to keep an open mind and consider other career options, but as I advanced in my academic journey, I was more and more convinced of my passion for medicine,” she said.
After completing her medicine studies at McGill University in 2021, Salma is that much closer to making her dream come true.
Salma’s advice for current students and recent grads: “Whether you know exactly what you want to do or not, follow your heart and take it step by step. What’s most important is that you don’t stop. If you keep going even if the path seems more like roller coaster with hundreds of detours, you will end up exactly where you should be.”
