Stephen Tino: Hi! I’m a fourth year financial economics specialist student, and I’ll be working as the ESC Head Peer Mentor for the 2017-2018 academic year. I like econometrics and my favourite second year economics course is ECO 227. My research interests include genoeconomics, economics of crime, and applied microeconomics. Outside of school, I like travelling, running, boxing, and listening to music. The first and second year economics courses at U of T can be quite challenging, and getting extra help is essential for success. The ESC is a great place to get extra help and meet other students. I wish you the best of luck and hope to see you in the ESC this year!

Saarah Sheikh is excited to be joining the Economics Study Centre as a Peer Mentor for the 2017-2018 academic year. She is a third year commerce student specializing in finance and economics. If there’s one piece of advice she hopes to impart onto her fellow Economics students, it is to ask lots of questions when you’re confused; your profs and TAs are more than happy to help! Her favourite courses have been ECO220 and ECO206, but she will also be there for your ECO208 woes. In her spare time, Saarah enjoys reading and listening to music. 

Zachary Kroll is a fourth year finance and economics specialist entering his second year as a peer mentor. Having survived ECO204 as both a student and a tutor, he hopes to pass on some tips and tricks of the trade in such a manner as to make the year as painless as possible for all parties involved. Outside of economics, Zachary’s interests include English literature, which he also studies at The University of Toronto. He aims to cultivate an enjoyable and relaxed environment – after all, learning is fun! 

I’m Xiaoyang Li, a third-year math and economics specialist with a major in statistics (pre-empting questions about pronunciation, that’s sh – ou – young: sh as in “ship”, ou as in “out”, and young as in, well, “young”). I’m especially interested in economics research, both empirical and theoretical, and am doing research in economics under the supervision of my professor at UofT. Among topics that fascinate me are international trade, game theory, and economic growth. Outside of economics, I really enjoy classical music and opera, playing violin in the Hart House Orchestra, poetry, volunteering in the community, swimming, and jogging. Please stop by to ask questions or chat!

Anthony Piruzza will be serving as a Peer Mentor for the second year during 2017-2018 academic year. He is a fourth year student pursuing a Financial Economics specialist at Trinity College. Anthony has served as a peer mentor for the Economics First Year Learning Community for two years and as an editor for the University of Toronto Economics Review. Outside of his academic life, Anthony is interested in reading, politics, and swimming at the Athletic Centre.

Gulru Inan is a third year Economics and International Relations double major.  She is fascinated by economic crises, international trade equity, and econometrics the most. She was an avid visitor of the ESC during her first two years at university and it helped her immensely, so she recommends it to every Economics student! Gulru is also actively involved on campus in the Muslim Students' Association. Outside of academics, she is an expert on all of Toronto's bubble tea shops. She looks forward to helping students at the ESC this year.

Arvind Kulathu will be a peer mentor at the Economics Study Centre during the 2017-2018 academic year. He is a fourth year Finance & Economics Specialist at Rotman Commerce and is delighted to work at the Economics Study Centre again. At University, Arvind was heavily involved with the Rotman Commerce Finance Association and continues to pursue his passion for finance through his involvement in the Portfolio Management Group. Outside of his academic life, he enjoys playing badminton and can usually be found at the Athletic Centre.

My name is Amelie Zhang. I am a third-year Rotman Commerce student specialising in Finance & Economics while minoring in Mathematics. I have taken ECO100 (i.e., ECO101, 102 this year), ECO204, ECO220 and ECO209 in the past. I enjoy the more quantitative side of Economics, and my favourite Economics courses so far are ECO204 and ECO220. One piece of advice that I would like to give first and second year students about studying Economics is to try to explain Economics concepts in your own words and apply them in the real world as much as you can. Besides Economics, I am also passionate about traveling, learning foreign languages and playing guitar. If you happen to share my interests, feel free to reach out to me, and we can have a chat about fun stuff other than Economics (which is absolutely the most exciting thing!).

Paul Pavel is a 4th year student in the Management stream (formerly Finance) at Rotman Commerce with a major in Economics. Paul's favorite course at UofT has been ECO220, which played a large role in developing a passion for statistics and data analytics. Paul's biggest piece of advice for students is to always make a conscious effort to stay on top of coursework and meet deadlines. With multiple courses, there are definitely periods of several deadlines that can overwhelm you if you haven't been keeping up.

Yu Mao: I am entering my third year of study at Rotman Commerce, specializing in Finance and Economics. All of the Economics courses I have taken so far were challenging but fun. In particular, I thoroughly enjoyed my second year Microeconomics course (ECO 204). It really shows you how economic arguments can be made around day-to-day decisions. Economics is a way of looking at things, and it takes time getting used to. In my opinion, the more you think about the intuition, the better you get at it. During my free time, I play all sorts of sports including badminton, swimming, and basketball. I also love good food and travelling!

Kyle Kim: I am a fourth-year student majoring in Finance and Economics Program at Rotman Commerce. Even though I am in a commerce program, I have always enjoyed taking economics courses throughout my university. When I was in the first year, I did not really appreciate the economics theories that I had learned and suspected whether they would be relevant to our lives at all. Now that I am in the fourth year and have completed many upper-level economics courses, I really believe that the theories taught in the first and second years are essential to understanding more advanced models which in fact provide lots of values and implications to our real life.
            The first and second-year economics courses are considered some of the most challenging courses because there is a big jump from high school in terms of the contents and difficulty and they are very theoretical. However, if you put effort and become genuinely interested in the study, you would be able to succeed in the courses. I also suggest you link the economic theories and models you learned to any real-life situations because then you would understand why you are learning them and you will have more fun studying.

I’m Émilie Heron, a third-year Finance and Economics students at Rotman Commerce.  I love economics because it is so easily applied to daily news stories. I love reading articles and analysis of such events after my morning run. Fitness is one of my passions. I love many types of fitness training from kickboxing to PiYo. I enjoy doing a little bit of everything when it comes to all the new fitness trends, the same way I love learning both about macro and microeconomics. I look forward to helping students understand concept in either one of these areas in such a way that they can apply them inside and outside the classroom.

My name is Justin Yau and I’m a third-year student at Rotman Commerce in the Finance and Economics specialist. My favorite economic course is ECO209, and the best advice I have for students hoping to do well in economics is asking a lot of questions. I am excited for the opportunity to join the Economics Study Centre as a Peer Mentor for the 2017-2018 academic year, and I look forward to helping students succeed in school.

At University, I am part of the Portfolio Management Group and Rotman Commerce Finance Association. Outside of school, you can find me at Hart House working out. I also really enjoy playing basketball and swimming.