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For his work at �鶹��Ƶ (SFU)'s Bennett Library, economics major student Mahindhar Kumar has been awarded with this year's .

Established in 2014 from an endowment created by the Library Campus Campaign Committee with generous gifts from library staff, friends and supporters, the award recognizes a full-time student who has volunteered or worked for the library. The award was formerly called the �鶹��ƵLibrary Undergraduate Student Award, and renamed in 2019 in memory of liaison librarian Mike McIntosh.

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During his O-Level and A-Level education, Mahindhar became intrigued by economic models and by understanding how countries make financial decisions. It drew him to study Economics at SFU, with a concentration in Data Analytics, where he’s now in his fourth year.

He first started working at �鶹��ƵLibrary as part of a project to move books to create space in Bennett Library for the new Indigenous Curriculum Resource Centre. “I was an international student in Canada at that time and I was learning about different cultures and communities,” he explains. Working on the project helped him to learn more about the history of oppression of Indigenous people in Canada.

Now working in Access Services at Bennett Library (�鶹��ƵBurnaby), Mahindhar finds the most valuable part of his job to be connecting with people. “I enjoyed my interaction with the �鶹��Ƶcommunity the most,” he says. “Being able to enable learning for all library patrons was the most satisfying part of the job.”

A strong believer in life-long learning, he intends to go to graduate school to study data science and to work towards a career as a data scientist. Congratulations, and best of luck with your plans, Mahindhar!