Class of 2017: Boundless energy and enthusiasm fuel nursing grad's impressive volunteer efforts

Some folks create a bucket list for retirement, or a trip. Nilufer (Nilly) Hasanova, who convocates today in the Faculty of Nursing, created a University of Calgary bucket list on Day One of her studies, and she has spent the last four years diligently working her way through it.

“I was super excited browsing through the university website, and I wanted to do everything,” the fast-talking Hasanova says, the words barely keeping pace with her thoughts or containing her enthusiasm. “I created an à la carte list of experiences, kept an open mind, and I just organized my schedule around these activities.”

There were some things on Hasanova’s bucket list you would expect of many undergraduates — joining campus clubs, becoming a residence adviser, setting academic goals — but the list also underscores a remarkable commitment to volunteering, and her abiding concern for immigrant and refugee populations, the vulnerable, and global health.

On campus, Hasanova served as member of the Undergraduate Nursing Society, she was vice-president (external) of the Azerbaijani Students’ Association, she raised money for the United Way through the Amazing Campus Race, and was vice-president (events) for Passion 4 Play, among many other duties.

She was a community adviser in residence, winning the CA of the Year award, a peer mentor and leader with Leadership and Student Engagement, and a campus tour guide.

“When my mum dropped me off at the university for the first time, I was pretty intimidated,” Hasanova says. “Right away these very nice students helped me, walked me to the TFDL. I noticed such a sense of community, and that got me over my fears.” Now, Hasanova considers UCalgary home, and she became one of the university’s best tour guides, giving new students an instant sense of belonging.

• Class of 2017: Read more stories about graduating students, and recipients of honorary degrees and Orders of the University of Calgary

“Nilly goes way above and beyond; she has this overwhelming desire to help,” says Caitlin Kane, who grew to know Hasanova through the Leadership and Student Engagement Office. “She worked one-on-one with students as a peer helper, and in the Emerging Leaders Program; she was a real cheerleader and guidance counsellor, bringing that energy and enthusiasm to everything she did.” 

Hasanova volunteers off campus, too. She has worked for over a decade with the Calgary Bridge Foundation for Youth as a volunteer and mentor, sharing her own challenges and experiences as an immigrant youth. In 2015, she received the Immigrants of Distinction Award Youth Scholarship.

Hasanova founded the non-profit Hope for Home to raise money for orphanages internationally, the first of which was in Turkey. As well, for four years she volunteered for the Fitness Rehabilitation Program at the university’s fitness centre, helping people with disabilities.

She has also been a fundraiser, volunteer and summer camp counsellor at Kids Cancer Care, (KCC) an organization that helps children and families affected by cancer, and regularly grows her hair to donate to Angel Hair for Kids, collecting pledges to raise money for KCC.

Plus, an impressive list of academic achievements

It’s an astounding, exhausting list of extracurricular activities (and there are yet more), but it bears mentioning that on top of all that, Hasanova is also a serious and committed student and an accomplished researcher.

“Nilly came in to my office one day, and asked to be part of one of the research projects I was doing,” says Cynthia Mannion, associate professor in the Faculty of Nursing, and Hasanova’s professor. Mannion says Hasanova was willing to volunteer, and then they secured support with both a Markin USRP and a PURE award.  

Hasanova was determined and innovative. She proved a valuable contributor to Mannion’s research project on PICA, a dietary behaviour that occurs internationally. “Nilly scoured the stores in northeast Calgary for clay that is purchased by women. She suggested a social media strategy which led to finding nearly 40 people in two weeks to share their experience with PICA,” Mannion says. “She was always cheerful, eager and engaged. There was no task too big or too small.”

In addition to creating and presenting five research posters and contributing to published papers, Hasanova traveled to Spain on her own in 2016 for an international neonatal and perinatal conference. There, she presented posters from the PICA study as well as work she’d done on caffeine and preterm infants with Dr. Veronica Samedi, a fellow in neonatal-perinatal medicine at the Cumming School of Medicine.

Now working as a registered nurse with Alberta Health Services, Hasanova returned just weeks ago from a three-month internship in Uganda at the Aga Khan University, the result of a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship. “It was a wonderful opportunity; I really admire the Ugandan nurses, working in tough conditions where there are huge populations and very few nurses,” Hasanova says with characteristic compassion.

“We come from such a privileged perspective, with access to so many resources, it just really made me appreciate what we have and want to work hard to help. That’s my big goal.”