We've said it before and we'll say it again: Our students do great things.
Earlier this year, we launched our Student Snapshot series to spotlight the many unique passion projects, professional accomplishments and extracurricular activities that show just how exceptional our students are.
Here are some of our top Student Snapshot stories.
BECCS students stand up for child care
When students in the final year of the Bachelor of Early Childhood Curriculum Studies (BECCS) program heard that a new federal-provincial child care agreement had been signed, they wanted to celebrate.
“This is a landmark moment in our field,” says Dawn Eagles, who has been working in early learning and child care since first graduating from MacEwan’s diploma program in 1990. “Creating a system for child care that we can rely on for years to come is truly historic. We have never seen this kind of support before, so it felt like something we really needed to celebrate.”
Documenting Edmonton's Queer history
When Japkaran Saroya proposed taking a look at the development of homeless LGBTQ2S+ youth in Edmonton as part of his honours research application, his research supervisor connected him with Dr. Kristopher Wells in MacEwan University's Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity.
"I am very interested in research within the Queer community and working with the community in any capacity," says Saroya, a Bachelor of Arts student in honours psychology. "There are countless studies that show the mental health disparities and overall disproportionate rates of negative health effects that members of the LGBTQ2S+ community face."
Reaching out
Chella Robles is about to spend a lot of time analyzing a series of brain scans to see how strokes in one part of the brain might impact a person’s ability to reach and grab.
The Bachelor of Science, Psychology student is conducting an independent study with Dr. Christopher Striemer that focuses on the cerebellum, located at the back of the brain.
“I’ll be looking at which part of the patient’s cerebellum was affected by the stroke, whether the patient had a reaching deficit – not being able to reach out and grab things – and trying to determine if there is a connection between that deficit and injury to a certain part of the cerebellum,” explains Robles, who plans to apply to the Psychology Honours program next year.
Unconventional dissemination
During his five years at MacEwan University, Dylan Cave has learned a lot, but his latest gig producing and co-hosting the Research Recast(ed) podcast has given him a whole new outlook on research and much more.
Research Recast(ed) explores the research, scholarly and creative activities happening at MacEwan and how faculty members influence and incorporate students, teaching and the larger community into their works.
"Our pilot episode was really tough," recalls Cave, a student in the Bachelor of Music in Jazz and Contemporary Popular Music program. "We talked about some really serious topics with Cynthia Puddu and Cheyenne Greyeyes, and I was emotionally drained after the recording. It changed how I look at research and community partnerships, and helped me understand a bit more about how to be a better ally to Indigenous communities."
Getting the gig
Gwyneth Bignell took an old-school approach to covering the arts and entertainment beat during her internship with Gig City this summer.
Pen and notebook in hand, the third-year Bachelor of Communications Studies student set out to review everything from music festivals and theatre performances to comedy and burlesque shows.
Bignell’s first show was in early July in the midst of Edmonton’s heatwave. “It was brutally hot and a bit bizarre adjusting to being in crowds again,” she says. “But it was interesting to go and watch shows as a reviewer and see them from a different perspective. I had a lot of fun, even though covering the music scene during COVID was challenging with fewer events to choose from than normal.”