Simone Grimard
4th Year Bachelor of Arts
Intercultural Work at TRU.
With my time at Thompson Rivers University, I have been lucky enough to have had a range of opportunities to get to play a more active role on campus through campus clubs, being a Resident Advisor, and now with a more intercultural approach, being chosen to represent the university as a Study Abroad Ambassador.
Image taken at last Ready, Set, Go! Seminar
Study Abroad Ambassador (Fall 2014/Winter 2015):
With my time at TRU, one of the most amazing opportunites I have been awarded on campus has been the opportunity to represent TRU World and the Study Abroad Department as a Study Abroad Ambassador. To be a Study Abroad Ambassador means that I have previously studied abroad at TRU and involves:
Peer engagement or mentorship in the Study Abroad context [which]
means that returned Study Abroad students support potential and
current Study Abroad applicants. Ambassadors share their experiences,
explain what Study Abroad is, help them with their application process,
point them to the correct people or resources and stand as a true
testament to the benefits of studying abroad. (TRU World)
To me, being a Study Abroad Ambassador is more than just letting students know about the Study Abroad program at TRU and helping them with their applications; it's about using my experience studying abroad and traveling abroad to create a greater enthusiasm and movement of students to get out of their comfort zones and to go abroad where they will undoubtedly have one of the most amazing and life-changing experiences of their lives. For me, seeing other students get excited and getting excited for them is one of my favourite parts about my job because I know that once the students leave Canada, their lives will become so much more enriched and their persepctives of the world broadened significantly.
Not only is being a Study Abroad Ambassador a great way to promote the idea of studying abroad and gaining international experience, or to help students prepare to go abroad, being a Study Abroad Ambassador is a great way to connect with the Intercultural Council, TRU World, and other international organizations on campus, allowing the intercultural learning and networking to continue while being home in Canada.
Giveback Project--Ready, Set, Go! (Fall 2014/Winter 2015):
The Ready, Set, Go! seminar is an interactive and informal seminar between the Study Abroad Ambassadors and the students who are preparing to go abroad and is held once a semester, prior to the students' departure.
As a Study Abroad Ambassador, the Ready, Set, Go! seminar was an idea proposed by Karie Russell, the Study Abroad Manager, and was brought forth to a fellow Ambassador and myself in order to design and create a peer-to-peer seminar for Ambassadors to help mentor students going abroad. The two of us collaborated, using the experience we gained studying abroad and our own independant travel experience to create a seminar where students can express their fears, their concerns, or their questions about what they might expect when they go abroad. It was also designed for the Ambassadors to impart any knowledge we have gained in order to help the students understand what they might expect, what they should prepare for and plan on, cultural differences they may experience, as well as the very real potential of developing culture shock while abroad and reverse culture shock when coming home, by drawing on our own eperiences and the experiences of other Ambassadors. It is about students learning from other students who have already gone through the process.
At the seminar, each student is asked to express a fear they have about gowing abroad and then the Ambassadors go through each fear and discuss it as a group to help alleviate stress or concerns. We also go over what they should do before they go, when they arrive, while they are there and then what to do and expect when they come home.
Most importantly, the Ready, Set, Go! seminar is a chance for fellow Ambassadors and I to share what we have learned from our travels abroad in order to give students the tools to be successful and to help alleviate and worries and or stress they may be feeling. This is one small way of contributing our global knowledge to helping others.
To the left is a link to the powerpoint Aaren and I have created for the Ready, Set, Go! seminar, along with our guide for what we address during the seminars.