A Trinity Western University (TWU) student who grew up in Williams Lake is one of three new grads who has garnered a Trinity Fellows year-long paid internship.
Naomi Lomavatu, 22, just completed a business administration degree and a specialization in human resources degree with a 4.06 grade point average and said she applied for the internship to learn more about leadership.
“It will be especially interesting this year just with COVID and seeing how leaders manage different crisis or times of uncertainty.
During her undergrad, she spent a semester in Ottawa at the Laurentian Leadership Centre where she studied and did an internship in at CARE Canada, an organization committed to advocating for women and girls’ unique needs.
“That was really interesting for me because I am interested in human resources and working at an NGO so it was literally the perfect internship,” Lomavatu said.
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At TWU she appreciated the professors who she said invested in her and challenged her.
There were different ways to get involved with the community while she was in university, and one of the things she did was volunteer in the Downtown East Side in Vancouver through the Union Gospel Mission.
“We would walk the streets once a week, hand out hot chocolate and talk with people. I went to one place that was a half-way house and we’d hang out in the lobby and play games and get to know people.”
In her last year there she visited once a week at a women’s prison, talking with inmates and play music.
After graduating from Lake City Secondary School in 2016 she went directly to university. During the summers she has worked as a dispatcher at the Cariboo Fire Centre, starting in 2017 when the region saw its largest wildfire season in recent years.
“I was broken in pretty fast,” she said. “It was definitely challenging, but I got to see some really incredible leaders during that time and see how they made different decisions. They had a really good team.”
Born and raised in Williams Lake with her parents Paul and Clarice and older siblings Rob, Avikali and Ana, Lomavaut said she enjoys the pace of life the city has to offer.
Living in the Lower Mainland has made her appreciate smaller cities and towns more, the people and the encouragement and support of families and friends she had growing up.
When she isn’t studying she enjoys playing sports and music and going on hikes and adventures with her friends.
She played basketball in high school but at university only played inter murals.
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During the leadership fellowship she will take five masters of leadership classes over eight months.
Lomavatu said she chose TWU as she had heard a lot about it and appreciated while it was a smaller university, there were different opportunities to serve in the community, opportunities for mentorship and leadership.
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