More than a piece of paper
When I transferred to Concordia from the University of Victoria I was on my fourth major and my last leg.
I knew I wanted to live
in Montreal and I thought I wanted to continue in school, but like many undergraduate students, I was struggling to focus my studies. I randomly applied to the School of Community and Public Affairs and three years later can definitively say that it was a stumble in the right direction.
The SCPA introduced me to an alternative way of experiencing university, one that fused all of the exams and presentations and papers with a real-world connection to local communities and everyday struggles for social justice.
As an undergraduate, it’s easy to feel like you are being pushed through a degree factory, jumping through the same hoops over and over again until you’re finally allowed to stop.
It’s also easy to feel like you have to attend grad school to begin to be taken seriously as a scholar. But my professors at the SCPA (and some in other departments) by-and-large treated their students as valid intellectual beings in their own right. I began to feel like the work I was producing could contribute to a wider community, instead of just lining a recycling bin.
What I’m essentially trying to highlight is the idea that undergraduate work can be valuable in a way that moves beyond the socio-economic ‘value’ of a degree to an undergraduate.
It is because of this conviction that I want to encourage people to check out QPIRG’s Study in Action Conference, happening on the Hall Building 7th floor from March 2 to 4.
The conference seeks to promote social justice while forging links between undergraduate students and the broader Montreal community.
Undergrads from Concordia, McGill, Ottawa and Ryerson will be presenting their research during a series of panel discussions—an opportunity most of us don’t get until grad school.
There will also be five great workshops hosted by community organizations and some amazing undergraduate artwork presented as part of Art in Action.
The entire conference is free and catered by the People’s Potato.
By highlighting undergraduate research and connecting it with the world outside the university, Study in Action provides a reminder that the work we do as undergrads means more than just a mark on a transcript.
For more info: www.qpirgconcordia.org/studyinaction
— Cassie Smith
BA School of Community and Public Affairs
