Kathryn: Sure. Well, I was in a bit of a career shift and I was I was looking for something to do that was that was related somehow to the environment and climate change. I was considering a lot of different options: I was considering environmental law; I was considering green architecture; I was considering doing a masters in public policy. I really was not sure where I wanted to go and I was sifting through different programs that were on the UVic calendar and I was looking through the business program just for fun, ’cause I’ve never really even considered business as something that I would be interested in, but I thought to myself, well, you know that’s an industry that has an effect on the environment, so I’ll take a look through this. In their pamphlet for the business program, they had a list of all these different minors that you can do as part of your business program, and one of them said Human Dimensions of Climate Change. And I was like, “Oh, that sounds interesting.” So I looked a little bit further into what that minor entailed, and then I discovered that there’s a certificate that you can do, which is just a really concise little 10.5 credit one-year program. And it just seemed like the perfect fit for where I was in my life, just trying to transition into something else, wanting to gain some knowledge that would be transferable into another field potentially, and so that was what brought me to HDCC. I was quite intrigued by the course offerings that were available in the flexibility for doing different electives according to what other interests one might have. So I chose to do an elective in Indigenous Studies, and I did two in Geography (which are recommended). I did those and I’ve never studied anything to do with Indigenous studies or Geography. I’d never done any social sciences course courses before, actually, ’cause I studied Music and Education previously so it was a whole new world for me and it felt like a really great introduction to some of the human dimensions of climate change, so that’s why I signed up.
K: Yeah, it really helped me. Actually, the HDCC program has really given me a nice background on some of the issues that are relevant in law. If I had tried to go into environmental law without having done the HDCC program before, I would feel totally lost. I would really not have a clue about a lot of the stuff that’s being addressed in in the world of environmental law, so I’m really glad I did it. I feel like it was a really worthwhile investment of my time and energy. I’m not coming [into law] from a social sciences background, so it was helpful.
K: Sure. I was placed with the Office of Campus Planning and Sustainability [at UVic], and I did a four-month experiential learning course with that office and I was tasked with providing administrative support for Phase Two of the CSAP project, which is the Climate and Sustainability Action Plan that the university is currently developing. So my role was not so much about creating a particular project or product for my community partner, it was more about providing support throughout and just kind of being their ‘girl Friday’ and doing everything that they needed done that the regular full time employees didn’t have the time or energy to do. I was doing a lot of work with data from the results of the engagement survey that was part of the first phase of the CSAP planning and I got to see some really interesting feedback from the UVic community about what various people feel are important things to consider when developing a climate and sustainability action plan, and that was really eye-opening for me to have a bit of an inside look into what people think is important. There were so many different perspectives coming in and it was very eye-opening for me to see different people in different parts of the university and what they prioritize.
I also did a lot of research for my community partner and writing memos to provide background information for the various task force groups that are going to be the ones who are actually developing this plan. And so I was doing research on what UVic already has in place, what UVic’s strengths already are. So I got to know the university really well, actually. I got to know what kind of programs are offered, what kind of research initiatives are offered, what kind of institutes exist on campus, and things that I had no idea were actually here, so it was really neat to get to know more about the campus and more about what’s offered here. I also wrote a memo that was meant to be a little bit removed from the CSAP project. It was directed towards the President’s office about a kind of a related, but unrelated, initiative that the university is interested in joining, which is the University Climate Change Coalition (UC3) and so I was basically researching and writing memos and dealing with data and just facilitating a bunch of documents that are being created for background information for the tool kits that were being used by the task force groups in their work to develop this CSAP project.
A: What was it like working for a community partner internal to UVic?
K: I felt really fortunate to be placed within UVic. The goal for me, at the end of this course, was not necessarily to find a job or anything that I could continue on with later, but I did start to think to myself what a great thing it would be to work for the university and, and I did really appreciate the flexibility and the understanding that that my supervisors had to the student plight. They were very flexible and they were very understanding of other things that I have going on and they were very on board with sort of the learning objectives of an experiential learning course and I felt really lucky that they got it. You know, like they understood what this experience was supposed to be about for me and. So I felt very lucky to get to work with people who are already within the environment of a postsecondary learning institution. And it was also great just to learn more about my university and to have the chance to really understand how universities work and how governance works and how the chain of command works and how that tree—you know, that kind of filters down from the president, how it all fits together, and that’s something I never really understood or I just took for granted. It was really interesting to actually get to understand how decisions are made at the university. So I felt very lucky to be placed at UVic.
A: Was this the first time you’ve participated in community-engaged learning or have you had prior experiences?
K: I think the only experience I’ve had in the past that would be comparable would be my teaching practicums. When I was doing my education degree, it wasn’t really considered community-engaged learning. It was—I mean, a practicum is essentially community-engaged learning, but it wasn’t framed in that way. So I felt like this was different. This was a different experience for me from what I had experienced as a student teacher. There were some similarities, but generally I felt like I had a lot more independence in this particular experiential learning course, and there was a lot more freedom for me to get out of it what I wanted to get out of it. And so I guess the answer to your question is yes and no. I’ve had similar experiences, but this definitely felt different. It did feel like there were different learning objectives. There were different opportunities and it had a bit of a different pace. I think if somebody were coming into this expecting for it to be extremely structured and for someone to remind you every week what you’re supposed to do and all that, I think they would have trouble. It would be difficult. You kind of have to be a bit of a self-starter in this kind of a program. Just because I think all the different community partners work differently and it’s not a well-oiled machine in the way that a teacher practicum program would be. It’s very much ‘you get out of it what you put in.’ So I think that’s an important element to keep in mind.
A: What did you enjoy the most about your experience working with CSAP?
K: I really enjoyed the people I was working with. For one thing, I really liked my supervisors and the people that I came in contact with in the meetings. It’s great to really connect with the people that you’re working with, so that was something I really loved. I also really loved, as I said before, getting to understand the university structure a little better and getting to understand how decisions are made at the university/administrative level. And for the work itself, I enjoyed doing research on aspects of what the Indigenous strengths of the university are and what the research initiatives that are already going on are, and just getting to know my institution better and writing memos. I like dealing with data and I’ve never done that before, really, but I found it kind of therapeutic in a way. I like spreadsheets and I like to go through and organize things, so the work itself was enjoyable as well.
A: Was there anything that you found challenging or maybe unexpected with the work?
K: I suppose probably one of the more challenging aspects for me was just feeling like: am I doing enough and my meeting my hours? Have I got enough jobs to do? And I constantly felt like I had to advocate for more work so that I could actually fulfill the requirements of the course and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a good thing to learn how to advocate for yourself, but it was a challenge and I did spend quite a bit of the summer feeling guilty that I wasn’t working harder. I had to constantly have these little conversations with myself [about not feeling guilty] and that was a bit challenging. But in the end, you know, you can only do what you can do. And I ended up getting enough hours and it all worked out in the end, but I did constantly have this little inner dialogue of: am I working hard enough? Am I going to manage to get all the time and the experience in the hours that I need for this course? But I got over that–at the end when I counted out my hours I was like, “OK, that’s fine, no, we’re good.”
A: Is there anything else you want to share about the experience or any advice for future HDCC practicum students?
K: I think this program really lends itself well to people who are willing to be flexible and open minded. Take the opportunities that come and roll with them! And maybe you can have an idea of what you want to get out of it or what type of work experience you might like to have as part of your practicum, but at the same time, it’s good to keep an open mind about the things that you might be asked to do, or the experience that you might be slotted into and I think there’s good learning to be had no matter where you get placed. Sometimes it’s probably even better to be placed somewhere that you feel is a bit out of your depth, because that’s where the learning happens. I guess that would be my advice for any future HDCC students. And also: do the experiential learning course because this is the chance to culminate all the learning from the program and to actually apply it! You can’t get the certificate without doing this course. So, you know, block off a chunk of time one summer or whatever and just get it done!
A big thank you to Kathryn for sharing her experience!
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