[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Wyne_Sudduf.jpg” caption=”Sudduf Wyne is the valedictorian for the Faculty of Engineering Class of 2008.”]After years of hard work, perseverance through heavy course loads, prodigious amounts of homework and difficult testing, the Faculty of Engineering Class of 2008 will graduate today. It is a day that can feel perpetually far away, says Engineering valedictorian Sudduf Wyne.

“Five years have finally come to an end; it's very exciting,” she says.

They've been five busy years for Wyne, who has certainly not confined her life at McMaster to academics. In addition to her studies, Sudduf has been a member of numerous clubs, co-founded the McMaster chapter of UNICEF, served on the Student Representative Assembly of the MSU and served as leader of the Women in Engineering Society and teaching assistant for first-year engineering students.

Although she's proud of all these activities, she explained that her experience with UNICEF was particularly rewarding.

“My friends and I joined many clubs when we arrived at McMaster, but found that few felt like they had many opportunities to help people outside the school in a substantial way,” she said of her first-year experience. “When we founded UNICEF, we intended to change that. In our second year as a club, we raised over $10,000.”

Wyne hopes to continue her work for UNICEF in the coming years.
Another passion of hers is gender equality in the engineering field. She served as vice-president of promotions for the Women in Engineering Society, a position that allows her to work for a group that advocates for and represents female engineers. In addition, she ran a program at the East Kiwanis Boys & Girls camp to promote women in science and engineering.

After all this, Wyne is understandably taking some time off this summer. However, in the fall, she will be working with Ontario Power Generation, and she may return to school in the future to pursue an MBA.

“Ideally, one day I would like to run my own business,” she says.

This goal doesn't seem far-fetched, considering that an entrepreneurial spirit has been a hallmark of Wyne's academic career, and will most certainly be a hallmark of her post-academic pursuits.