Imagine making a difference in the community and becoming a vector for change: these goals motivated the three students selected to receive an OceanPath Fellowship, which in turn, will help each of them launch a community-based experiential learning project.
Nicola Brogan wants to help young girls in Hamilton by encouraging them to focus on their health, education and well-being. Why Hamilton? Because Brogan was born there and wants to apply what she has learned to help her community overcome a problem that is especially prevalent in this region, namely teen pregnancy. In Hamilton, the rate of teen pregnancy is greater than the Ontario average and emergency women’s shelters are often overcrowded.
As a master’s student in interdisciplinary health sciences, Nicola Brogan aims to implement a seven-week educational program to help young girls acquire a better sense of agency and resiliency. Her program, which targets teen girls and their procreative health, would complement others currently being offered to women in her community. The training she intends to provide will center on body development, overcoming sex-specific barriers, sexual health and self-esteem. She will partner with Indigo Girls Group to implement the project.
“During my six years at the University of Ottawa, first as an undergraduate and now as a master’s student, I learned a great deal and gained excellent research and analytical skills. Now I need to apply this to the real world and transform my knowledge into concrete actions by building, from the ground up, a health-related program.” — Nicola Brogan
For Hanan Ghazal, who is earning a Bachelor of Arts in linguistics with a minor in psychology, this funding will help her create a program to improve the lives of young mothers who are newcomers to Canada. She intends to form a support group that will offer mentorship services to such women, with the aim of facilitating their integration and helping them build a network so that they can gain access to the many resources available in the Ottawa area. This program will be unique in that it will be offered where immigrant mothers live and will include childcare services. To do so, Hanan Ghazal will be counting on more experienced refugee mothers to discuss and share information with their younger counterparts.
“Immigrating to a new country as a refugee is very challenging. These new mothers will find it easier to overcome these challenges if they are surrounded by others who are facing the same issues.“ — Hanan Ghazal
Maggie Rodrigues’ project involves helping local individuals who have intellectual disabilities find employment. She intends to harness the many resources available in the Ottawa region, along with the community’s engagement, and mentorship opportunities, to provide a service that will allow these individuals to gain work experience and develop job skills. Her end goal is to help these individuals enhance their self-esteem while providing them with special access to job opportunities that allow them to preserve their dignity.
Thanks to the knowledge she has acquired as a BCom student specializing in international management, and her volunteer experience with university clubs and community organizations like Best Buddies and L’Arche Ottawa, Maggie Rodrigues will design training that is practical, accessible, and tailored to the needs of each individual.
“My goal is to cultivate a better understanding and create opportunities for cooperation between those who have intellectual or developmental disabilities and those who do not, in order to transform our way of thinking so that we foster inclusion in the workplace.” — Maggie Rodrigues
The OceanPath Fellowship is awarded to students who demonstrate ability and potential to collaborate to improve society thanks to innovative ideas and initiatives that foster positive and lasting social change. It is an opportunity for these students to apply their learning and make a difference in their communities.
The three recipients would like to thank the team at the University of Ottawa’s Michaëlle Jean Centre for Global and Community Engagement for their support during the application process, along with the Coady Institute for the opportunity to join the 2019-2020 OceanPath Fellowship Cohort.
These fellowships highlight once again the excellent social engagement of University of Ottawa students. These three students will gratefully and enthusiastically invest themselves in projects they feel strongly about to make a lasting difference in their communities and in the lives of those fortunate enough to benefit from their efforts.