Look Who it Was Random video

Student Story - Victoria Paskannaya

2,070 views · Published 27 November 2013 · 4:04 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: Columbia International College, Canada · 2013 · People & Blogs

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Watch the story of how Victoria Paskannaya, a CIC student from Russia, succeeded in obtaining the knowledge and skills required  to achieve her dream of working for the United Nations in the future.

Transcript:  

My name is Victoria Paskannaya, I'm from Russia, Sakhalin Island. I've been at CIC since Aug 2011.  I'm dreaming of world peace. I think I can achieve my dreams by working for the United Nations. Columbia helped me a lot in achieving my goal because I need to understand more people from various countries and I need to know more languages. So when I came to Columbia, I was surrounded by them in classes, in the residences, and just during lunch period. I was talking to people, getting to know them better, getting to know how to work with people. 

Teachers here at Columbia are very passionate about their work and they're very considerate to each student. In spite of where they come from or what their knowledge level is, they always wanted to put it to a higher level, to the top level.  For instance, in English class, at an international school, we all speak different languages, but the English teacher will work with each student, consider each student's personality, so that we are all equally knowledgeable in the subject area. 

In order to work for the United Nations and to help keep world peace, I really need some leadership skills which I get here at Columbia in a leadership program.  Leadership skills I acquired here are time management, communications skills and how to manage myself and how to work with people. They will help me because I work for the group and I brainstorm.  I listen to what opinion they have, express my own feelings and we all come up with one solution and work towards our goal. This is what exactly what I'll be working on in the United Nations.

In this 30 Hour Famine, as a leader, I was supervising a workshop. At the workshop, students and I were doing postcards that were sent to kids in Ghana. Apart from learning how to work with the group which was really important skill for me as a leader, I also learned how important it is to encourage someone with words. Because these postcards were sent to someone who is in need, who is in necessity, this fundraising event eventually helped me understand how important it is to be able to give a hand of help to someone in the world. 

Why people live in conflicts is because they don't understand each other. In order to get to know people better, you have to put yourself into the shoes of this person.  This helps create the world peace which is my goal. I want all people to live together in a friendly environment without having any arguments with each other, like here at Columbia. We have so many different people here and we all live together. This is a paradise. I want everyone to live like this.

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