Guelph-Humber's degree-diploma mix attracts ‘pioneering' students looking for focused studies and after-class opportunities
BY ANDREW VOWLES
In the Guelph-Humber classroom, they focus like lasers on their studies. Outside the classroom, they're involved in a range of extracurricular activities and often have a part-time job. They're risk-takers, choosing a new school over established universities, and often uninhibited about promoting G-H to other students. Many are the first generation in their family to attend post-secondary education in Canada. Many commute to school from an hour away, or even further in the case of one student travelling from — of all places — Guelph.
Those are some of the key attributes of the roughly 1,300 students enrolled in six programs at Guelph-Humber, an institution so new that it's still looking ahead to its first graduating class in 2006, says Jock Phippen, manager of registrarial services for the Toronto-based campus.
Contrasting the students he sees each day with those he encountered in his former job co-ordinating undergraduate admissions at Guelph, Phippen, a BA graduate of U of G, says: “The students who have chosen to come here are truly pioneering. They could have gone to longer-established institutions, but they've chosen to come to us.”
Who are these focused pioneers anyway? At Guelph talked recently to six G-H students enrolled in a variety of programs.
Second-year business administration student Ameer Ali wants Mel Gibson's job. Or at least the job of his advertising executive character in the 2000 movie What Women Want.
Ali's getting some volunteer experience as a student ambassador and as a STAMP leader, helping to sell would-be G-H students on the merits of the school and its programs and helping new students by serving as an online support peer.
“It's the best job I've ever had in my life,” he says of his STAMP role. “I'm paid to have fun.”
He's also a learning support peer in the Learning Commons, which he describes as the heart of the Guelph-Humber Building. “I like getting involved in the school.”
Born and raised in North York, Ali completed an international baccalaureate and was able to transfer some of those credits to his program at Guelph-Humber.
He's a big booster of what he calls G-H's “two-for-one offer” of a degree and a diploma in four years. Despite being enrolled in the largest program at the school, he says: “I like the small atmosphere. I didn't want lectures where I was just a number.”
Having watched her older sister take four years to complete a BA followed by a two-year diploma at the Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Michelle Sturino figured she could save herself some time by enrolling in Guelph-Humber's media studies program.
“The degree and diploma caught my eye,” says the Mississauga resident, now in her third year of a four-year program that will net her both university and college credentials.
Her choice was a good one from an extracurricular point of view as well. A longtime sports fanatic, Sturino was named rookie of the year as a forward on the U of G women's rugby team that won gold at provincial championships in 2002. This year's squad claimed bronze in Ontario University Athletics play.
A STAMP leader, Sturino is also a founding member of the G-H Athletic Council, through which she has encouraged other students to consider varsity sports at the University.
“A lot of students don't realize they can play for Guelph,” she says.
To help address the problem of transportation, the group has arranged for a twice-daily shuttle service between Toronto and Guelph.
Sturino spent part of last semester on an internship with the FAN-590 sports radio station in Toronto, doing everything from slicing audio clips to conducting research for hosts. One of her more unusual duties came about when she and another intern volunteered to move Tie Domi's Mercedes to spare the Toronto Maple Leafs winger a parking ticket.
She plans to become a sports broadcaster in the vein of Kathryn Humphreys, sports specialist with Citytv. “She has a great rapport with most Toronto-based athletes, and I want to have that, too.”
Andre Lewin is in his second year of the justice studies program, having transferred from Humber's police program. He recently won the Association of Black Law Enforcers Scholarship and a bursary from the Community Police Liaison Committee.
He plans to seek work in police services and is considering applying to law school. For now, he's working as a security guard at a nearby department store and volunteering in the probation office of a Toronto court.
At Guelph-Humber, he belongs to a task force on student civility that has made recommendations to improve students' classroom behaviour.
As his program's representative on the Guelph-Humber Student Association, Lewin has been involved in fundraising for a memorial for an officer killed last year in Cobourg. He also helped raise money for a sandwich drive, which enabled the justice studies student committee to deliver about 500 sandwiches to youth and homeless shelters in the greater Toronto area.
“I like helping people,” says Lewin.
Take that young child who went missing one day in the mall where he works. Recalling the mother's reaction when he finally returned with the child, he says: “It's like the world was lifted off her shoulders. That makes me feel great.”
Second-year media studies student Kimi Holloway, a member of the G-H cheerleading squad, has become something of a cheerleader for the school itself, serving as a student ambassador and as a public relations officer with the Humber Students Federation (HSF).
That role apparently comes naturally for Holloway, a program representative for the public relations stream of G-H's media studies program.
She also writes and edits for the HSF newspaper and has become involved with a new business society club on campus. “You need to know a variety of things to succeed in life,” she says.
In an unlikely move, Holloway came to Guelph-Humber from Virginia, turning down scholarships from several American schools. She says none of those prospects were as enticing as the idea of studying abroad — despite what her friends thought. “When I said I was going to Canada , they didn't believe me.”
She hopes to stay after graduation. She loves Toronto 's multicultural feel, an eye-opener for a 19-year-old from a town of 10,000 people. “I feel like I've gotten a whole new experience.”
Dario Guiao, a second-year computing student, figures he's getting the best of both worlds at Guelph-Humber. “I pretty well know everyone in the school,” he says. At the same time, he has a conduit to the University through his membership on the varsity wrestling team. The 25-year-old Mississauga resident trains at Guelph three or four times a week.
Back at G-H, he's a learning support peer and a STAMP leader, helping to ease the transition to university life for entering high school graduates. He's also a member of the Guelph-Humber Students Association Academic Council, working to improve students' experience.
He's enthusiastic about the benefits of earning both a degree and diploma. “You get the theoretical background of university and the practical applications of college,” he says. Not to mention a chance at two co-op terms.
Earlier, Guiao completed an engineering program at Ryerson University . He's considering graduate studies in computing or science, perhaps at Guelph , where a younger sister is studying science.
Jeff Stanlick, a graduate of Guelph's John F. Ross CVI, wanted something out of the ordinary when he began investigating universities — ideally something with hands-on applications that would allow him to get out and work with people. He figured G-H's family and community social services program would provide the perfect mix.
“The idea of having the theory and the degree as well as the diploma, having the practical placements and experience — it was no question when I saw the program,” says Stanlick, who may pursue a master's degree in social work after graduation.
Also attractive was the prospect of several field placements. “It was exactly what I wanted.”
He's interested in working in crisis intervention. He already volunteers with Victim Services Wellington in Guelph , talking to victims of fires, accidents and domestic violence on the phone and in person.
Last year, Guelph-Humber recognized Stanlick for his work with victims of violence and his outstanding achievement in leadership by presenting him with a Student Leadership Scholarship, one of four awarded to G-H students.
In 1999, he attended an international youth leadership conference in Tahiti as one of five Canadians invited to meet youth from around the world to discuss global issues.
And in 2001, he visited Japan on a one-year youth exchange through Rotary International. There, he spoke to groups about Canada and taught English as a volunteer.
Back home, he started a business making decorative ice sculptures until he learned he'd been accepted at Guelph-Humber. (He still works at occasional events, including making a sculpture for the Atrium Restaurant last year.)
A learning support peer and a STAMP leader, Stanlick commutes to Toronto from Guelph . His mother, Nancy, is a staff member in the U of G Library. His brother, Jason, is a graduate of Guelph 's biomedical toxicology program.
