Following the end of my mandate at the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa, I was given a fantastic opportunity to submit a guest blog, in line with the theme ‘Towards fewer dropouts’ from the Education Canada magazine in June 2015.

This article sums up some of my experiences navigating the University of Ottawa community, as well as some of the lessons I learned during my year as a student union executive (during the 2014-2015 academic year). I also shared a few unique student association structures that provide opportunities for student groups who are often struggling to find their place in the larger campus community – specifically, part-time and mature students. These groups often overlap and commonly include student-parents, long-serving members of the workforce, and retirees. Many of their needs vary from your average 18-22 year old undergraduate students, and it isn’t always possible to accommodate those needs when planning programming for the larger student body.

There was a word limit on this particular blog, but if you’re interested in hearing more of my reflections on student-run services and programming, expect more to come very soon!

Thank you again to the EdCan Network for providing me a space to share my thoughts!