One of my most controversial takes on my time in university is that the most important part of my learning has consistently happened outside the classroom, and that almost all of it is self-taught. In classes I’ve learned to barely reach a minimum word count, remember information just until the test and then forget it all, hand in assignments at 11:59 p.m., and participate enough to get my grade for the day before checking out. All my most meaningful learning was done in my extracurricular activities. While I do maintain that I’ve been involved for the sake of the work itself or my own self-improvement, there is always the thought in the back of my mind that is what makes me employable. Importantly, it is the skills I’ve learned through my leadership positions that I expect to be most useful to me in my time beyond our purple bubble. 

I became involved in student leadership in my first year, starting by becoming the president of the Debate Society, and attending the Leadership Retreat where I developed exponentially over one weekend. Since then, I’ve been involved in a myriad of roles at Bishop’s, including two years as co-chair of the Joint Senate and Board Task Force on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, two years on the SRC as the Equity Representative and then Vice President Academic Affairs, and most recently, I’ve joined the 3M National Student Fellowship recognizing student leadership and innovation. In each of these roles, I had a steep learning curve, working with larger and more diverse teams, tackling more complex and impactful issues, and trying to balance it all with my academics.  

One of the strangest lessons I’ve had to learn is how to learn a lesson at all. It is so easy to close myself off to the experience, brush it off me and move on to the next problem, but that doesn’t make a good leader. I would continue to make the same mistakes, never improving. In order to truly learn from my experiences and grow, I engage in critical reflections. I write: dissecting the situation, what I did, what I didn’t do, what caused friction, how I felt, what I want to do better, and what impacted me the most. Being constantly engaged in the process of reflection has allowed me to extract lessons from my experiences, then apply them to my leadership and my life. 

More than any lesson, I have learned the importance of community. Leadership involves making difficult decisions, overcoming challenges, managing conflict, and supporting others. The more important the work feels, the easier it is to burn out. Having a community of peers with whom you can share your experiences, engage in critical discussion, and commiserate when necessary, can make a world of difference.

When I started working in EDI, I felt overwhelmed with the complexity of the problem – I can’t solve racism. How can I be expected to tackle any one part of it without feeling that I’m ignoring every other part of the problem? I met with students involved in EDI advocacy and activism from the Maple League schools, and we were able to support one another not only to feel more comfortable with the work we did but to have more success as we recounted our experiences and what worked for us.  

Engaging in leadership and critical reflection on the experiences therein have been far more important for my development at university than any class could be.