End of an era.....

Last week marked an epic occasion: my tenure as a Postgrad Students' Association Executive Board member came to an end. I served with "the Exec" for the last year and a half and the experience has been, in a word, invaluable. Before starting at Victoria I had never been involved with any student representation groups so this experience was all new. I don't know how to accurately convey how much I've gained from my time with the PGSA. The work was challenging and extremely time consuming; I spent several hours each week preparing for meetings, reading papers, drafting documents, and formulating points I would raise with various boards and committees around campus. The time consuming part I did entirely to myself. That is, instead of just sitting with the Exec and working on planning and implementing events for postgrads I first took on the role of the postgraduate student representative to the Animal Ethics Committee. Working with this group I've developed a keen interest in animal ethics and animal welfare. And as I student rep I led a working group that has developed a training program for students who work in the animal labs at Victoria. Although I'm stepping away from PGSA I cannot leave Ethics because we are about to launch the program and I want to be a part of that.

In addition to Animal Ethics I signed on to represent the postgraduate perspective to Academic Board and Academic Committee. These two groups work closely together and represent some of the highest level decision making in the University. Starting out I was totally intimidated because these groups are comprised of the "higher ups" in the University; despite my anxiety I planned carefully and brought postgraduate issues to the forefront of the discussion in many meetings. Towards the end of my tenure with both groups I felt like I was just "getting the hang of it". I guess that means I was ready to move on to the next thing taking with me everything I learned along the way. I never imagined or believed that I could be that person, a student no less, advocating for others. Like I said, this was incredibly rewarding.

Last week I attended the PGSA's Annual General Meeting and received a plaque for my service. All in all a bizarre and anticlimactic ending to such long standing participation with the group. Like so many things it's like, "ok, done!". What?

Today an email I received put a huge smile on my face. I opened my inbox to see that the papers (usually at least 100, if not more) for Academic Board were being circulated. My first thought was, "YES! I don't have to read these!" and my second was "oh, whoops, I'm still on the mailing list".

The end of an era. Indeed!