Tag Archives: events

Grad!

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I think I just survived the craziest weekend of my life. Even though our exams are the last week of June, my school’s Graduation exercises were Thursday and Friday (we got fake diplomas as we haven’t actually graduated yet).

It all started on Thursday, when my fellow graduates and I started off the Graduation festivities with a mass. After the mass there was a mad dash to the brunch at a hall downtown. Tons of pictures, food and a slideshow later, we headed to the Christ the King Cathedral for rehearsal. After a loooong, hot rehearsal, we picked up our gowns and headed for home.

Or unless you are me, got a little hungry and headed to McDonalds haha :)

Then I finally got home, only to put on my gown and return back to the Cathedral for the actual ceremony (on the other side of town!)

I even made the picture- meet Bishop Ryan’s Class of 2010!

After the ceremony, more pictures and sleep finally! I have officially-unofficially graduated :)

Then, I woke up bright and early to get ready for the dinner-dance…and I realized it looks a LOT of work to get dressed up.

By 4:30, I was at my friend’s house for pictures…and we caught our limo.

Too bad the limo wasn’t air conditioned! We were dying of heat in the back when our driver randomly pulled over and started working on the engine- talk about getting our night started off right!

Our driver got the A/C working but blew the fuse to the speakers so we had no music in the limo! The good news is we got to the hall in one piece even with all the technical difficulties.

After dancing the night away, our sketchy limo driver picked us up and drove us home to my house for a hot tub/Call of Duty/food/movie party.

All in all, it was an amazingly exhausting two days, but an amazing experience nonetheless!

love from your newest unofficial graduate :)
-Christine

Packing Up the Past

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So, having survived the worst of the end of the year craziness (and feeling entirely un burnt-out!!) I am now cleaning up my stuff in preparation for moving out of my rental house in a week & a bit.

Insane, right? How did this year go by so fast!?

As I pack up piles of paperwork (and also finally part with some of the stuff I have been holding on to the last few years) I can’t help but marvel at everything I’ve done while at Brescia.

The evidence:

This is just the beginning...

  • A box of like 20+ course packs and textbooks
  • Two massive binders of Students’ Council notes
  • A folder of Long Term Planning Committee notes
  • Two truly humungous binders of all my class notes for the last two years
  • A folder of material from when I did a placement at the Nokee Kwe Native Literacy Program
  • A bunch of resources from Student Services programming at Brescia (like Leadership Certificate)
  • Contracts from when I was an Educational Resident Assistant, Get Real Camp Coordinator, and Girls LEAD Camp Coordinator
  • 2 class yearbooks
  • Contact information & notes from the Women’s Education Worldwide Student Leadership Conference (which remains one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had- I watched the video last night & shed a few tears)
  • Various notes, letters, and thank you cards from awesome people

Some of the stuff I found made me nostalgic (like my yearbooks), some of it made me proud (like my 2nd year research papers), some of it amazed me (did I REALLY put that much thought and effort into Students’ Council planning? I have like a 6 page document of my goals for the year, almost all of which were accomplished thanks to the dedicated group of women I worked with) and some of it made me cringe (although I learned a lot from those less-than-perfect experiences).

I can’t believe how fast the last four years went by, although there were times that felt like they could not go by fast enough (like when I had 5 classes, a placement, a Students’ Council Presidency AND an unexpected surgery to deal with).

While I know that I am grateful for my time at Brescia, I think that I sometimes underestimate the extent of the impact it has had on my life. Sometimes the impact may have been less than ideal (e.g. stress, sleepless nights, and a much-too-large workload on occasion), but ultimately all the experiences I’ve had here have shaped who I’ve become- in small unnoticeable ways, and in big obvious ones (I don’t think all women are complete airheads any more!).

As I pack up the past , I am also looking forward to the possibilities in my future. I feel really fortunate that my time at Brescia has helped shaped me into the woman I KNOW I want to be, and has helped put me on a path I feel great about. Because of my time here, I feel much more confident leading groups, more aware of social inequality, more solid in my own identity, more comfortable living on my own, more able to conduct research, and so many more things that I know will help me to be who I want to be.

Valedictorian

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Wow. I was incredibly blown away by the amazing speeches given by the women last Wednesday who were running for Valedictorian! Our graduating class has about 180 students, and apparently about a third of them qualified to put their name forward for Valedictorian this year. Of this, 10 women chose to run for Valedictorian, and I knew at least 8 of them from around school. It was really moving to hear them share about their Brescia experience and why they wanted to represent our graduating class. All of the candidates spoke with such confidence, humour, and heart, and it was really cool to hear how Brescia has impacted their lives.

Although each woman would have brought something unique and wonderful to the position, I think we made a great choice: Elise Maiolino! When she got up to explain why she wanted to be Valedictorian, she said that she wasn’t up there for herself, she was up there representing our whole class. She affirmed that Brescia is about the change that we can make collectively, not just individually. Her inspiring words about how excited she would be to help put together a Valedictorian address that represented ALL of us really struck a chord with me, and clearly with many others!

I can’t wait to hear her at Baccalaureate, our special Brescia graduation ceremony, on May 1st! Congrats Elise!

(You can also read about how much Elise loves Brescia here, since she is featured on the website!)

Open House Q & A

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Hey everyone!

So I had a fantastic day today at March Break Open House. I really love the opportunity to meet potential students and tell them all about what life at Brescia is like. If you are one of those students, you made my day!

I know that thinking about university can be exciting, but also confusing and overwhelming at times. Going on a tour can really help: it can help you SEE yourself there- which can ease some of those feelings of fear and uncertainty!

Today I was lucky to answer a lot of great questions about university. Since some of these questions came up often, I thought I’d post a few of them here. Enjoy. :)

What ways can you get involved at Brescia and Main Campus?

There are SO many ways to get involved at Brescia and at Western- you just have to look. As a Brescia student, you get “the best of both worlds”: access to all of Western’s facilities and programming, as well as the unique programs and support available at Brescia.

Checking out this blog will show you some of the activities I have been involved in during my time here (Clubs, a Resident Assistant, Girls LEAD Camp, Students’ Council, Off Campus Council, O Week, Leadership Certificate, the Mentor Program, the Sophia Series, and more). Some of the main sources for programming and events are Students’ Council , Student Services, and main campus Clubs. Different faculties and departments also have many of their own programs, events, and extracurriculars you can check out.

What is the food situation like at Brescia?

Brescia’s Food Services are now “in house”- that means that we don’t contract out to a big catering company. A lot of Brescia students are concerned about eating both nutritious AND delicious food (Foods & Nutrition is one of our biggest programs!). Brescia’s Food Services work hard to provide food that students will like, and they have tons of options including daily hot features, vegetarian meals, a salad bar, a sandwich bar, pizza, items to go (like sushi and premade sandwiches), and a Starbucks coffee bar.

What is going to a women’s college really like?

Like ANY experience, going to a women’s college is a little different for everyone. However, I think there are some stereotypes about women’s college that aren’t true. Here are a couple things that I have NOT experienced at Brescia:

  1. Never seeing any guys. There are guys in classes, male professors, and you can get involved in the wider Western community, which is co-ed of course!
  2. Having to deal with a lot of “drama”. If anything, I have found LESS drama with the girls at Brescia than in other places. Women that choose to go to Brescia are often very friendly, school focussed, and interesting people.

What I have experienced is an environment where women are comfortable to be themselves, take risks, and build relationships. At Brescia, almost all of the student leader positions are filled by women, so there are tons of ways to get involved that are not intimidating. Also, in the classroom, I have heard that many girls say they are more comfortable participating in a more ‘women-friendly’ environment.

What supports are there for students academically and personally?

At Brescia, I honestly feel that people want you to succeed. They do everything possible to help you get the support you need: be it health-related, interpersonal, or academic. Some of support available includes a Chaplain who supports students of all different faiths, the Student Services department, the Library, the Writing and Math Help Centers, Academic Advisors, and more. Brescia students also have access to services on Main Campus such as career services and student health (full walk in clinic and doctor’s office).

Also, professors are a fantastic resource and support. They really love their jobs and are always available to consult with students, in class, in their “office hours”, or by appointment.

How many hours of class do you have? What is the workload like? Is it really different from high school?

Please don’t believe the myth that “your marks will drop an automatic 10%” from high school. There are lots of factors that might influence grade changes from high school to university, but it is not automatically “way harder”- just a little different. Now you call teachers “professors”, classes might be called “lectures” or “seminars”, and tests might be called “exams” (which are not necessarily harder than the high school kind!).

What IS a change for many students is the way classes are laid out and the way your academics are structured. You usually only have about 15 hours of class a week, which is a drop from the 25+ hours you might have had in high school! The difference is that now YOU are responsible for coming to class prepared, reviewing your material, and structuring you time so that you can learn everything that you need to write your exams. However, if you keep on top of things and really use the supports available to you, success is completely achievable!

Do I really have to know what I want to do with my life right now?

My answer: NO! I went to university thinking that I wanted to do law, business, french, or music. I ended up in psychology! You don’t have to come to university with a 20 year plan.

However, what I WOULD recommend is really using your time at university to explore what you think you might want to do in the long term. I found that thinking ahead to the future and planning my courses and extracurriculars really helped me in the long run. Even though I didn’t know I would end up in psychology, I did know that I was interested in people, in kids, and that I might want to try politics, business, etc. So I signed up for classes and opportunities to help me explore these options. I also really looked ahead and planned my degree carefully so that I would have course requirements met for programs I might be interested in in the future.

Okay!

These are just a few of the questions I had today: I know there are tons more. If you go to the “Your Questions” section on the right side of the page, you can leave me questions (anonymously if you want), and I am more than happy to answer them in future posts!

Also, don’t forget to check out the Brescia website, or, if you want, come for an individualized tour!

Hope this helps. Good luck with your university decision!

Kate