U of T commerce grad discovers passion for teaching, science - and helping others

Applying to medical school might not seem like a natural next step for a commerce grad, but Roshawn Jamasi says it’s all part his rich University of Toronto journey – one that also included discovering passions for teaching, science and volunteer work.

As a member of Innis College, Jamasi is graduating with an honours bachelor of commerce with a specialization in management through a joint program between the Rotman School of Management and the Faculty of Arts & Science.

“Something I loved broadly about the program was the quality of professors,” Jamasi says. “It was clear how knowledgeable they were in the depth and breadth of their experiences. The wisdom they shared was incredible.”

In particular, he credits Cindy Blois, an assistant professor, teaching stream, in the department of mathematics, for giving him the opportunity to teach in his second year.

“She took a chance on me to help teach a calculus course,” says Jamasi, who earned the department’s Daniel B. DeLury Teaching Assistant Award in 2023. “I fell in love with teaching tutorials, working with first-years and helping with lectures. 

“That was one of the more standout experiences I had as an undergrad.”

He says his program’s flexibility allowed him to take courses in psychology, immunity and infection, human physiology, environmental human health, chemistry, human biology, and brain pharmacology.

 “I was able to really develop my skills outside of commerce which helped me find my true passion for science, while teaching me key transferable skills through my program courses.”

Jamasi, who has had heart disease since he was 13, says he also learned the importance of putting health and well-being first – after pushing himself a little too hard in his first year.

“I would wake up at 4:30 a.m. and study for eight hours straight. I'd be getting four or five hours of sleep every night. My grades were excellent but by the exam period of second semester, my body finally quit on me as I incurred a new stomach condition."

This pain paired with managing his heart disease forced Jamasi to step back and better manage his course load and his busy schedule for his remaining years. He says he’s grateful to Innis College for being supportive and giving him the accommodations he needed to continue his studies.

“At the end of the day, a student can’t perform at their best if they're not in their best health,” he says.

Helping others flourish was a consistent theme throughout Jamasi’s academic journey. 

An Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) team he helped establish within his program enabled international students to better connect digitally with the rest of the program during the COVID pandemic when much of life was lived online. The team soon realized students in China were at a disadvantage because many of the program’s clubs and associations primarily used Instagram and Facebook to promote their events and activities.

“At the time Instagram was blocked in China, so was Facebook,” Jamasi says, adding that the team helped the groups share their information on the social media platform WeChat.

“This way, they had another way of getting all of the information, resources and potential job opportunities. That was something we were proud of.”

Wanting to connect students further, Jamasi and his team also created a way to show the human side of his classmates.

“We find our program is very competitive,” he says. “Our surveys were showing a lack of connectedness between students, and a lack of appreciation of each other and the diversity we bring.”

To offset this, he and his team created an Instagram page called peopleofRC that features students sharing interesting facts and experiences outside of academics.

“There’s nothing about personal achievements, nothing about accolades, it’s just sharing something unique about yourself that we can all celebrate,” says Jamasi.

Jamasi’s desire to support others also saw him volunteering at nearby Toronto hospitals.

“I began volunteering at Toronto Western Hospital when I was 16,” he says. “That's always been a nice way for me to take my mind off school and focus on other people. I would visit patients who were staying overnight and keep them company and help them feel like they're not alone. That was always really satisfying for me. I learned a lot about so many different types of people.

“Some days I'd have class in the morning. After that, I'd run to the hospital because it's so close and do some volunteering and come back to classes in the evening. Those were some of the best days.”

Jamasi has applied to medical school though he hasn’t decided which field of medicine interests him most.

“But I'm happy that I did this Rotman degree because it teaches you so many soft skills, like how to communicate, how to present yourself, how to present in a group of people, how to work in a team and lead a team,” he says.

“All those skills transfer to every aspect of business, whether you're in medicine, health care, or administration. I'm just so happy that I got to go to U of T and experience everything I did.”