Bangladeshi Students’ Association
Fly with Origami, Learn to Dream Students (UTFOLDs)
UTFOLD is an organization dedicated to promoting the intrinsic creative and educational values of origami, the art of paper folding. Origami has a rich history and cultural significance, and at UTFOLD, we teach origami to people to build an environment that fosters growth and community for all individuals, allowing them to appreciate and learn the uniqueness and range of the art form. We recognize the diverse backgrounds and skill levels of the people coming to our event. As such, one of our main goals is to be as inclusive as possible to support the development of foundational skills, passion, and creativity for origami.
Key accomplishments
Origami 101 - "Origami 101" was a workshop we hosted during the first week of classes during the fall semester, which aimed to provide new and returning students to the club with the opportunity to learn about origami, the club, and meet other students with similar interests. 36 students attended the event. The students expressed their appreciation of our workshop, which helped introduce many first-year students to the social and educational opportunities available on campus. This was helpful in helping them navigate the challenging transition to university life. Many of the students signed up for future workshops and recommended the workshop to their peers, and we saw the greatest turnout for our subsequent workshop (43 attendees).
Tabling Sessions - Our club held an origami activity station during the ‘Night Against Procrastination’ (NAP) events organized by StudentLife at Robarts Library during both the fall (November) and winter (March) mid-term seasons. During this event, our origami station provided students with activities with a variety of fun models to help students de-stress and connect with other students. We were previously invited and participated in the previous year's NAP events, and many students shared their appreciation for the activities we offered during those stressful times.
Origami for Good - Our "Origami for Good" event was held in early April this year in collaboration with the University of Toronto Support Provision and OutReach Community (SPORC) group. This initiative included serene spring models to be folded during the event and sent to seniors, youth, and military veterans through the Origami for Good organization. Every 15 pieces of origami made translates to 1 hour of volunteering registered on behalf of SPORC. The event had approximately 33 attendees, and we folded over 100+ origami pieces at the end of the event.
CPSIF funding impact
With funding from CPSIF, we were able to continue offering our weekly workshops and collaborate with various organizations both within and outside of the University of Toronto. The majority of the funding was directly used towards purchasing materials required for workshops - this includes origami paper, printed origami diagrams, scissors, and any other necessary tools. Our membership has been free since 2007, and we highly value making origami as accessible an activity as possible. Thus, we will always provide all such materials to workshop participants for free.
Some of our funding has also gone towards giveaway/competition prizes and promotional materials, in order to continue to engage with our club members and reward those who have continuously participated. The remaining funds have also gone towards administrative purposes (e.g. bank maintenance fees) and clubroom organization, which have ensured that we continued to operate smoothly as a club and provide workshops to students in an organized manner.
Pokemon Workshop models folded.
Left to right: Sherry Zhang and Jessica Li, UTFOLDs’ 2024-2025 presidents folding at UTAMA Winter Party.
UTFOLDs’ table at Night Against Procrastination (NAP) in Robart’s Library.
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