Student Feature: Mya Simpson
CEPS Diversity Scholarship 2023 winner Mya Simpson is an active member of the UofG community and spends most of her free time contributing to make our campus a safer and more inclusive space for everyone. We sat down with her to disucss what IEDI means to her in general and with respect to her field of study.
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Give me an example of the work you are doing to improve IEDI on campus
A lot of the IEDI work I do on campus is through my Vice President role on the Engineering Society and is centered around Engineering and making this space the most inclusive it can be. Additionally, just doing all that I can to increase education and discussion around these topics so that the student body in the SOE continues to grow in their knowledge and empathy for IEDI.
I’ve run multiple inclusivity/EDI trainings for student leaders and club members within the SOE and get to collaborate with organizations in the university such as the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Support and Education Centre.
Specifically, I had the incredible opportunity to run a fundraiser for the Orange Shirt Society in September, raising $800 for this organization. I designed iron-on patches that said ‘Every Child Matters’ on them and handed them out as students and faculty donated. I could not have done this without the support of my fellow EngSoc members who helped me cover the table for the three days this fundraiser occurred. This cause is very close to my heart as an Indigenous person, so to see my peers and the greater university community show that much support was absolutely incredible.
What does this award mean to you?
I am so honored and humbled to be recognized with this award. I have spent countless hours thinking, learning, sharing, educating, and striving to make Guelph Engineering a more inclusive and equitable space. I have been gifted the opportunity to hold a position of power in this school and that is something I consistently dedicate to the betterment of our school. All the time spent behind the scenes doing that work that I have done can be exhausting at times, but to see the impact of it makes everything worth it, and to be recognized with an award like this affirms that I am headed on the right track.
Why did you choose UofG?
I come from a small community, so I was never set on attending a massive university in a big city. I am used to being surrounded by the land and seeing familiar faces often. In grade 12 when I was going to campuses to tour, Guelph was a last thought that I threw in the mix because I was headed in this direction to look at some other schools. When I came to the campus, it felt like finding a hidden gem. I had no clue how beautiful the campus was here or how involved the student body was.
I had heard that the engineering program at Guelph was more close-knit and collaborative than other schools and that really interested me. A combination of the culture here and the proximity to nature were some of the main reasons I chose to come to Guelph. And every day I am so glad I did!
What inspired you to strive for a safer environment at UofG?
I take the experiences of others quite seriously and have always been dedicated to making all people feel welcome. When I came to university, I realized that everything happened on a much larger scale, and it was so much harder for individual voices to be heard. When I heard about the opportunity to be on the Engineering Society as the EDI and Sustainability Coordinator, I felt called to it because I really wanted to be able to share my experiences and amplify the perspectives of others in Engineering. The best way to describe my life since then is like a positive spiral, all of the ways in which I felt deeply for IEDI, my passions to make engineering a safer place, and general hope for our school just continued to increase exponentially.
How has your role as VP IEDI impacted you? What do you hope to gain from this experience?
Like I spoke to previously, being on EngSoc has absolutely changed my life and my experience in engineering at Guelph. The opportunities I have had to learn from others, meet such incredible people, and make important changes in our school have all come from my work through EngSoc. I have been able to realize just how important it is to share my experiences and be a person who listens to others. When it comes to what I hope to/have gained from this experience, it mostly has been about the people. Getting to see how others feel heard through the work I do is all I could ever gain from it.
In what ways do you wish to see UofG become more inclusive of IEDI going forward?
My hopes for UofG moving forward is for the growing inclusion of different ways of knowing and doing. I think that there is so much to learn from the inclusion of the perspectives of all people. Specifically, I look forward to seeing more students embrace their own ways of knowing in their education, and I am dedicated to making space for this.
Additionally, I hope to see the greater Guelph student body continue to actively commit to life-long learning. I love to see my peers think so deeply about EDI and truly show their dedication to understanding, and this is a posture that I want all students at Guelph to take.
Why do you believe EDI is so relevant and critical for the University and specifically your field?
Engineering shouldn’t have to be about giving up parts of yourself to enter this space. After I finished first year and went back home to my reserve, I think it really hit me how much of myself I left behind when I entered engineering. I noticed this especially when I began to reenter ceremony and work on the land through my summer job, it felt like being able to breathe fresh air again.
Like I had said previously, the reason I chose this program was because I could see my culture being weaved into it. But there is so much exclusion of Indigenous voices in the curricula and general culture of Engineering as a larger institution, which subconsciously took quite a toll on my connection to my Nishinaabe roots. I had an incredible first year and was able to share my culture in certain contexts at Guelph, but not until I went home did I realize how much I had to suppress because there was no space for it in my education. This is just my personal experience, but I know that there are so many people who feel this as well, and that is why I cannot stress enough how important it is for IEDI concepts to be truly put in practice at this University and in Engineering specifically. I have so much hope for Guelph Engineering and cannot wait to see the positive changes that are to come.
What would you like to tell future students about UofG and your field?
Guelph Engineering has so quickly become my second home. The way that I feel supported by my peers is like none other, from getting advice from upper years to spending late hours in Thorn studying with friends - I am never alone in this program. Engineering is a hard degree, I won’t lie, but knowing that I have a group of people here to experience it with makes it 100 times better.
Where do you hope to be in 5 years?
In 5 years, I hope to have graduated with my Biomedical Engineering degree, and be working in this field, specifically doing work that is close to my community or working with other First Nation communities in Canada. I want to be a part of making medical technology more accessible, and I am specifically interested in tech like pacemakers, prosthetics, or diagnostic imaging. At the end of the day, I want to be doing work that helps others and use my degree as a way to open doors for more people.