CEL Talk 1.0

Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend the first CEL talk in person due to timing, but I was still really engaged with what the speakers were saying in the recording. Dr. Mauro, one of the speakers, talked about how CEL gets incorporated within the law and society stream. He found many students were interested in human rights, social justice issues, and the law. With this, they brought in multiple people and non-profit organizations doing similar work, giving students first-hand perspectives of the projects they were working. I think it’s really powerful to see the impact these first hand perspectives can have on students who have only had the opportunity to go so far and research the topics. Students also had the opportunity to go out into the community and learn viewpoints which differed from their own. I think these opportunities allow students to have a more open mind and gain new, authentic perspectives on topics they are passionate for.

Following Dr. Mauro, I found it really helpful to hear from CAP student alumni, as they had insightful experiences in the program and had a lot to say. Two speakers, Isabelle and Kiera, both visited the reconciliation pole at UBC, honouring the Indigenous community. One found it helped change and give additional perspectives, looking at the communities and what it means to be a community. The other found it to be more of a reflective experience, reflecting on their own familial roots. I found that regardless of having different takes on what they were reflecting on, they both came out having learned and experienced valuable lessons which have helped their perspectives grow. This is something I really look forward to in the following weeks, as there is always something more to learn about the topics you are passionate about, and you never know what might come to surprise you.