Zahid Rahman, who is working toward his master's degree in management, was recognized Thursday at the Graduate Student Awards and Door Recognition Reception.

Zahid Rahman wasn’t sure he’d make it as a graduate student in Canada.

When he arrived here with his wife, Farhana, and their then two-year-old son Mu’az from Bangladesh a year ago, the odds seemed stacked against him and his master’s research into employee creativity.

Rahman was in a foreign land — Canada and academia. He first graduated from university nine years earlier and was comfortable in the rhythm of career and family life in his homeland.

But Rahman, who is working toward his MSc in management at the Goodman School of Business, thrived at Brock. He met faculty who provided encouragement at the right moments, and he received support in another way: with three prestigious scholarships.

On Thursday, he was recognized at the Graduate Student Awards and Donor Recognition Reception for receiving the Bluma Appel Graduate Entrance Scholarship for Excellence, the Jack Lightstone and Dorothy Markiewicz Entrance Scholarship, and another external award that will help him through his studies in the school year ahead.

Without the money those awards provide, Rahman is sure life as an international grad student would have been even more challenging. He would have needed to find a job on top of his full-time research and family duties.

“I almost dried up all my savings on settlement (in Canada). So (the scholarships) came at just the right time,” Rahman said. “Research is very rigorous work. You need to concentrate 100 per cent. If you have a split focus or interest, you’re done.”

The awards and donor recognition reception at Pond Inlet honoured dozens of graduate students who stand out in their research and studies. It was also a show of appreciation to donors, many of whom were in attendance, whose financial gifts to the University have helped those students succeed.

The awards, some of which also come from external agencies, reflect how Brock is growing into a research institution at the provincial, national and international levels, noted Neil McCartney, Provost and Vice-President Academic.

“Brock is indeed a comprehensive research institution,” he said.

But for Rahman, who is working with Prof. Dirk De Clercq,  it’s much more pragmatic than that.

“I could not be happier elsewhere,” he said. “Joining Brock is one of the best decisions I have ever made so far.”