By Sasha Milam
For all the things that 2020 was – and wasn’t – one of the ways this year opened doors was through the availability and accessibility of many different kinds of programming.
“The virtual environment has really allowed me to take advantage of a lot of different opportunities across the business program,” says Tyler Tootle, a fourth-year BCom student. One look at his resume is enough to show what he means by this.
Over the course of the year, Tootle was a TA for a 100-level commerce course, where he helped students with course content, marked assignments and ran a tutorial session; he was a facilitator in the Students Dialogue on Democratic Engagement, where he practiced his facilitation skills and learned about civil discourse and democratic engagement. He helped the Commerce Students Society run sessions for third-year students, which included hosting an online trivia game and lunch social. It’s the kind of schedule that could only work when commute time is nonexistent and many other experiences unavailable.
One of the things he is most proud of this year, however, was helping first-year students navigate the transition to university learning online, through his role as an Engage Leader with the BCom program.
“I provided one-on-one peer support for incoming students, and helped build a community by facilitating connections through events and programs,” says Tootle. “This and all the other experiences I’ve had this year in the virtual environment all come back to what is one of my core values: helping people.”
