Commitment to community earns Kamal Masri Surrey Leader award

Beedie School of Business lecturer Kamal Masri is the founder of the 25toLifeproject, an experiential learning project that raises funds for the Canadian Cancer Society.

A dedication to community engagement and a passion for experiential learning have earned Beedie School of Business lecturer Kamal Masri a Surrey Leader Community Leaders Award.

Now in its 14th year, the Surrey Leader Community Leaders Awards honour the men and women in the Surrey and North Delta community who make extraordinary contributions through volunteering, overcoming insurmountable obstacles, or going above and beyond their job descriptions.

Masri was the winner in the Above and Beyond category in this year’s awards, recognizing his work in the 25toLife project, a Beedie class project that combines experiential learning with fundraising for the Canadian Cancer Society.

For the past three years, Masri has tasked students in his Bus 361 Project Management class with raising funds by running a series of diverse, innovative events. The class has so far raised over $80,000 through sponsored events such as obstacle courses, corporate speed networking, and pub nights.

“The Community Leaders Award is recognition that what I am doing in the classroom has a positive impact on the community as well as the students,” says Masri. “Through the 25toLife project, the students work hard towards community goals, which is in line with SFU’s philosophy of ‘Engaging the World’.”

His dedication to the 25toLife project also resulted in Masri being awarded the Canadian Cancer Society’s Community Champion Award in 2015, in recognition of his remarkable fundraising efforts for the Society.

“The 25toLife project combines an experiential learning approach – which makes the class more interesting for the students – with community engagement,” says Masri. “Through learning about their community, my hope is that my students will continue to strive to better the community they live and work in as they advance in their careers.”

In addition to Masri’s award, Beedie School of Business alumna Rachel Nelson was honoured in the Community Builder category. As Coordinator of Community Relations and Engagement for the SFU Surrey TD Community Engagement Centre, Nelson has established numerous partnerships with non-profit organizations to benefit the community. Under her guidance the Centre has delivered 30 programs to more than 2000 members of the community in only three years.

Beedie School of Business undergraduate student Winona Bhatti also received an honorable mention in the Above and Beyond category for her work as President of Enactus SFU. Under her leadership the organization has raised more than $235,000 for social initiatives.

Bhatti has garnered a string of awards in recognition of her work recently, including the Surrey 25 Under 25 Awards, and the HSBC Women Leader of Tomorrow for Western Canada. Earlier this year she was named Student Leader of the Year at the Enactus National Exposition.

For the full list of recipients of the Surrey Leader Community Leaders Awards, visit surreyleader.com/eeditions/?iid=i20160629054458863