Monthly Archives: February 2010

Things I’ve Learned @ Brescia

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Ok, so I actually CAN’T believe I’m graduating in like 2 months. It seems like just yesterday that I showed up at Brescia, an excited, nervous, confused first year student with no idea where her life was going.

Boy, have things changed over four years. Now, I’m an excited, nervous, confused fourth year student with no idea where her life is going! (Well, at least I know I got into grad school!)

Kidding aside, the last four years have been incredible, challenging, frustrating, encouraging, amusing, upsetting, empowering, ridiculous, tiring, eye-opening, inspiring, and most of all, fast-paced. There have been a lot of highs and lows, ups and downs, changes, realizations, and opportunities. I have met many amazing people, a few of whom I really hope I will remain close with for a long time to come. I have had a variety of new, difficult, and interesting experiences. I know that I have grown and changed a lot as a person– so much that I think even I can’t appreciate how much I’ve changed in the last four years.

As my time at Brescia comes to a close and I start looking at the future, I’m realizing just how many amazing things I have learned while I’ve been here, and I’d like to share some of them with you.

And so, I bring you Things I’ve Learned @ Brescia! (In classroom and out.)

Here is number 1:

1. There are many doors of opportunity, but YOU are the one who has to stop and knock!

One of the things that I’ve found to be so great about Brescia is that the people here truly want you to succeed, and are dedicated to creating a school where women are encouraged to pursue their dreams and interests. When I first got to Brescia, I was amazed at just how many leadership opportunities there were for students: on Students’ Council, in Residence, on councils, committees, and in clubs, in programs like the Leadership Certificate, through internships and volunteer placements, and more. It seemed like people at Brescia were doing their best to provide opportunities for students to explore things they were interested in and to develop skills, knowledge, and experience in many different areas.

However, it is easy to believe that it’s the university’s job to prepare you for your future career and give you all the tools you need to get there. While it is true that Brescia provides many doors of opportunity, I quickly learned that no one was going to open them for me. I actually had to get out there and make it happen myself!

I remember being a student in first year- I was just getting settled into Brescia and I wanted to try something new. I have no idea what I was thinking, but I did something REALLY radical: I knocked on the Principal’s door and sat down in her office to talk about how I could get involved.

I don’t want you to think that talking to the Principal is something only a really confident person could do. Trust me, I was nervous. But she was really welcoming, and I knew that she could help me reach my goals. (She did, actually! Not too long after, she appointed me student representative on the founding committee for the brand new Institute for Women in Leadership, which was a really cool experience. In fact, now that I think of it, my work on that committee was what lead me to get to introduce Severn Cullis-Suzuki, the inspiring activist daughter of David Suzuki.)

Taking risks and being willing to “knock” has opened many doors for me. Another example was signing up for Leadership Certificate. Through that, I got to meet some great mentors who worked in Student Services. After a couple months, one of these mentors, Michelle Griffore-Kempe, told me that Brescia was thinking of starting a camp program. Would I be interested in coming to sit on a committee for the program?

This was another situation where I was a little scared! I was just a first year student, and even though I loved kids and thought I had some great ideas for working with them, I had never really been part of an organizing committee for a camp before.

Even though I was uncertain, I said yes. Once again, this little decision changed my life in a big way: not long after, they asked me to be the coordinator of the camp program. Three years later, Girls LEAD Camp is a big success- it is even going to Barbados this summer!

These are just a couple examples of times that I decided to make an effort to “knock”! Not only has this given me great experiences and built up my confidence (and my resume!), it has also helped me to find things that were a perfect fit with my own goals and interests. But, looking back, I realize that while there were many doors at Brescia, I was the one who chose to enter them instead of just walking by.

Grad School!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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So, I am COMPLETELY freaking out right now.

Like, I actually had a period of time in the last twenty-four hours where I stopped breathing completely. I don’t think I’ve ever had so much adrenaline pumping through my body EVER.

And here is the good news: I GOT INTO GRAD SCHOOL!!!!!!!! In the program I wanted!!!!!!! With the advisor I wanted!!!!!!! And there are like 200 applicants and they only take around 6!!!!!!! And it’s child clinical psychology!!!!!!!

Okay. I think that’s enough exclamation points. But I am just REALLY excited.

I’m sure I’ll share some more details later, but I had to let it out!

Kate

Favourite Quotes from Famous Women

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Here are a few of my favourite quotes from famous women. A lot of the quotes I see on walls, in books, on people’s Facebook quotes are from men- but it turns out women have incredible things to say, too!

“Action without study is fatal. Study without action is futile.” Mary Beard, American historian and archivist involved in the women’s suffrage movement

“War gave me an acute appreciation for what really matters. I have a sense of how the human contact, peace and stability we enjoy, are fragile. Life is about relationships, about family, friends, meaningful human interactions. You have to work for it; protect it; and understand its importance – everything else is just window dressing and can be gone in a second.” Samantha Knutt, Canadian Cofounder and Executive Director of War Child Canada

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou, American autobiographer and poet

“Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it’s all over.” Gloria Naylor, African American novelist

“We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.” Anaïs Nin, French author

“Saying no is difficult because it hilights the tension between exercising your power and tending your relationship.” Barbara Kiviat, American journalist

“It’s all too unfortunate that when a girl or young woman tries to assert herself it’s often labeled as aggressive…when you talk to girls about how girls are expected to act…there’s two extreme labels that are given to them. One is that you are really nice, all the time, and you’re friends with everyone, or you’re a mean girl (of course, they use worse words to describe this). There doesn’t seem to be an acceptable identity for girls that’s somewhere in between where you can be comfortably assertive.” Rachel Simmons, American author

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead, American cultural anthropologist

“And so we live our lives feeling powerless and inauthentic- feeling that the real people are somewhere else, that the characters on the daytime soap or the conversations on the late night talk shows are more real than the people and the conversations in our lives; believing that the movie stars, the rock stars, the celebrities, the People Magazine people live out the real truth and drama of our time, while we exist as shadows, and our unique lives, our losses, our passions, which cannot be counted out or measured, which were not approved, or graded, or sold to us at a discount, are not the true value of this world.” Starhawk, Global justice activist and organizer

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.” Eleanor Roosevelt, Civil rights advocate, author, speaker, and politician

Maya Angelou

Any great quotes from women that you have?

USC Elections

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Hey there!

I am just bursting with stuff to write about. I forgot how much I love to write, and how much there is going on around campus! University life is kind of crazy, now that I pay attention to it.

I have a big list of topics and ideas I want to share, but I want to start with a post about USC Elections, since the results just came out.

USC stands for the “University Students’ Council” (check out their website here). I remember being on campus in first year and seeing people campaign for University Students’ Council President. It was like a BIG THING. Like federal elections or something. People had signs, and banners, and websites, and they came up to me and shook my hand and wanted to talk about what they were going to do for students.

I was a little confused, especially because Students’ Council isn’t that big of a deal, right? Well, maybe not at high school, but at Western the USC is made up of over 50 student councillors, and a Board of Directors (President, 4VP’s, and a communications officer) who all take the year off school and get paid full salaries! The USC manages over $10 million dollars in student fees. That’s right, TEN MILLION. With this money, the USC provides important student services to all students, such as the Bus Pass, the Health Plan, Registered Dietary Services, the Women’s Issues Network, and more. They also run major operations such as The Spoke and The Wave (the two major bars/eateries on campus), the Used Book Store (where you can buy and sell your textbooks), and Western Film (a discount theatre!). As well, they are responsible for campus media such as the Gazette (our daily student newspaper), CHRW (our student-run radio station) and tvWestern (our TV channel).

So it turns out the the USC is kind of a big deal, and the position of President is pretty important. This year, 6 candidates ran: all male, poli-sci/business students.

I have to admit, I was pretty disappointed by the campaigns they ran. I know that students are busy people, and they are often drawn to the candidates that offer perks that will make university life a little more fun (even I think having a really awesome campus bar scene would great- then I wouldn’t have to trek all the way over to Richmond Row and spend all my money). However, being President is about SO much more than the little things like offering “free hot water” to students in the University Community Centre. While these are nice things to add to a platform, I really want to see some substance from a President. Here are the two major questions I ask when considering candidates’ platforms:

1.What do you plan to do that’s really going to make a difference for students in the long term (e.g. events that will only last one year or gimmicky ideas that will quickly lose their appeal or visibility aren’t too impressive)

2. How do you plan to actually accomplish this? Have you done your research and found out if these things are really possible? Are you committed and energetic enough to actually get the job done? (e.g. if you haven’t really bothered to find out what your resources or limitations are or you are overambitious, I’m not likely to believe you are going to accomplish your goals.)

Besides those two major questions about their platforms, I also like to look at the candidate herself or himself.  Are they going to represent students professionally, but still be able to be personable? Can they speak in public? Are they going to be able to handle stressful situations well? Etc.

Unfortunately, a lot of students don’t want to put the time or energy into researching their Presidential candidates and figuring out who to vote for. Also, a lot of students are underinformed about what the USC does, or what the President’s role is. Finally, the candidates often “play to the masses” as opposed to trying to come up with a campaign that’s really meaningful.

However, I don’t think these are excuses to “opt out” of the political process. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my time at Brescia, it’s the importance of choosing to engage in my society (or, in this case, my University). This often means going above and beyond to really look critically at the issues and get informed about what’s going on. And it means recognizing that the decisions I make, large and small, can and DO have an impact– the whole point of democracy is that WE control the political system!

Also, on a more personal note, I feel that getting involved gives me a lot more backing to expect that people keep their promises and to voice my concerns when people are not living up to their obligations. If I participate in the process, I feel like I am effectively saying “I care about what happens, and I’ve done my duty- now you do yours.”

Well, the results are in, and we’ll see if our new President Mike Tithecott does his duty. He seems very excited about the position, and I hope he does Western students proud.

Until next time,

Kate

Welcome!

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Hey everyone,

Welcome to BresciaBlog! My name is Kate, and I am a fourth year student at Brescia University College. I am really excited to be blogging for Brescia about what my experience has been like over the past four years! I hope to keep this blog current, informative, and fun, mixing some short daily news with longer “flashbacks” about past experiences I’ve had.

I can’t wait to share more about the people, places, experiences, and ideas that have shaped my time at Brescia! Whether you are thinking about coming to Brescia, already a student here, or maybe a parent or administrator wanting to learn more about what Brescia is all about, I hope you enjoy reading.

If you’re new to the blog and wanting to know more about me myself and the blog, you can click here. As well, you can read the story of how I ended up at Brescia here. While you’re reading, you can clarify any terms I use here!

Also, you can use the “Category” feature to view posts about different topics, like Academics, Involvement, etc.

Finally, feel free to leave any questions or comments!

Enjoy,

Kate