To rise in student politics means seeking guidance from lots of people. But no one has inspired Sitharsana Srithas more than her own mother.
“When we came to Canada it was just my mom and the three of us, and she raised us all on her own,” says Srithas. “She didn’t know the language. She didn’t have any kind of support system.”
Srithas focused on her studies when she first came to U of T Scarborough, but didn’t feel that she was getting the full university experience. A friend who was involved in the Tamil Students’ Association (TSA) convinced her to attend a panel discussion on the Sri Lankan civil war. Srithas went. And she’s never looked back.
“I listened to everything that was being said, and thought, ‘wow this is awesome,’” she recalls. “That’s something I missed a lot in high school, because I was the only Tamil person in the entire school.”
Srithas went on to become president of the TSA. And through that she got a sense of what was happening in the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU). Initially, she says, “I thought all SCSU did was orientation and boat cruise. I didn’t know about the advocacy aspect, and that’s what really drives me.”
Srithas remembers what her mother always told her when she was growing up — “Don’t doubt yourself. And if you feel strongly for something, go for it.” These words helped encourage Srithas to work her way up to president of the TSA and, now, to president of the SCSU.
She says that for girls in the Tamil community, self-doubt is often “embedded into your upbringing.” For example, “because you’re a woman you have to be humble, don’t speak against elders and don’t speak against authorities.” But her mother, she says, has always encouraged her to fight against that. “She has always been, like, ‘if you think something is right just do it.’”
Ultimately, Srithas hopes that all she does will be a tribute to her mother’s love and commitment. “Everything I do, I always ask myself, ‘would my mom be proud?’ And that has kind of defined where I’m going.”