Hello everyone!
My name is Ashley Haines and I just finished my first year of university (yay!), which also means I just completed my experience as a tutor at Britannia Secondary’s Homework Club. In this blog post I will be telling you about my experience at Britannia, the sense of community I was fortunate to witness, and the importance of integrating experiential learning into the curriculum of a sociology course. Whether you are a future UBC student interested in CAP or Trek, I hope you find my story intriguing and helpful to you as you adventure your potential in post-secondary!
When I first step foot into UBC back in September, I was extremely nervous and somewhat scared for what’s to come. With being nervous about social and academic aspects of university, I felt secure in my choice of joining the Coordinated Arts Program: a first year program for students who wish to explore different disciplines with smaller classes, tutor support, and more.
Being a part of Trek this past year was very beneficial to my integration into university life. Before going into my experience at Britannia, I want to note that throughout this past year in SOCI100 we have discussed at length the societal issues that we face today such as poverty, employment, human rights, and more. By taking what I have learned throughout SOCI100 and applying it to my tutoring sessions at Britannia was very helpful with allowing me to identify aspects of community development that are taking place in the Britannia school and neighbourhood (e.g. Homework Club!).
When deciding which type of placement I would go into, I knew I wanted to be in a high school environment because I love working with youth and hope to become a high school educator. Since I am from a more rural community, I wanted to explore what it was like to be in an inner city school. What I soon came to realize is that Britannia is an amazingly diverse school with students from all walks of life and circumstances, with some being more susceptible to family conflicts, food insecurity, substance abuse, and poverty. The Homework Club serves a purpose that extends further than simply getting homework help, it is a chance for these students to socialize with friends in a safe place, receive one-on-one help from volunteer tutors like myself, and eat a hot meal. For me, it was an amazing experience and I am very thankful for the connections that I not only formed with students, but as well as the program coordinators and my fellow tutors.
When it comes to the integration of Trek and SOCI100, I can honestly say that I am so happy I chose taking Trek over the discussion section. Disclaimer: everyone learns differently! Trek (experiential community learning) may not be for you, and that’s alright! Personally, I have always been very actively involved in my community of Langley in regards to community service and youth engagement, so essentially I figured that Trek would be a good opportunity for me to get involved in Vancouver and see what an inner city school is like. Whenever I went to my Trek placement, in almost every situation I would be reminded of something we have covered in my sociology class. I found it very helpful to see that these sociological perspective concepts can be seen within the community; not just in a lecture hall. Being immersed into an environment where you are responsible for fostering positive connections with students, teachers, and more really gives you a feel for what it is like to be in an environment where positive change is taking place. It feels good to be a part of something bigger than yourself, so whenever I am walking to my sociology class I am usually thinking of what ways my weekly Britannia visit will apply to my lectures. Being a brand new student to university can be scary, but if you choose Trek (which I highly recommend) you will be getting to know people from your CAP stream, students and staff involved in Trek with the Center for Community Engaged Learning at UBC, your placement coordinators, and the group you will be volunteering for! You will experience a whole new network, and overall that will be effective for your integration into the UBC and greater community of Vancouver.
Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Trek at the Britannia Secondary Homework Club and all the students I have been so lucky to get to know and work with. Regarding my sociology class, I thank Professor Kerry Greer for an amazing year getting to learn using the sociological perspective/imagination and providing the opportunity of experiential community based learning for myself and other CAP students. It’s been a fantastic year!
Kind regards,
Ashley