MacEwan students are some of the most involved, smart, creative and committed people, and we love sharing their stories. We’ve pulled together some of our most-read student snapshots to revisit over the summer. So, grab an icy beverage, find some shade and enjoy a dozen of our favourite stories from the past year.
Mice infestation leads to big story win
Between the pandemic and life’s twists and turns, it took Andi Sweet four years to finally make it to The Moth’s Seattle GrandSLAM competition last fall. Telling their hilarious and harrowing five-minute story about housing insecurity to an audience of over 750 is something they’ll never forget.
“I needed a win at the time, so it felt really good and made me realize that I need to start doing this more often,” says the Bachelor of Communication Studies student.
“Games are a place of queer joy”
Alana Whitson has always had a knack for solving logic problems. The anthropology major knew she wanted to complete an independent study project, but didn’t know where to start. What they did know, however, was who they wanted to work with.
Swiping right gets ruff
As Maron Demecillo, Bachelor of Science ’23, helped his roommate comb through dating app profiles, he got to know which physical features she was typically attracted to. He also noticed that her usual preferences didn’t matter much when she spotted a cute dog photo.
“I started asking other people and they told me that, yeah, people sometimes swipe right for the dog and not for the person,” he says.
RCMP field placement gives student the chills
Reading to preschoolers on the first day of his field placement with the Leduc RCMP detachment was a childhood dream come true for Conor McGhee. The second-year Police and Investigations student was only four years old when he decided what he wanted to be when he grew up.
“I’ve always wanted to go into policing, but I never realized just how many different career paths you could take,” he says. “After spending that first day of my practicum working under a community policing and victim services officer, I knew a community-involved role is exactly what I wanted to do for a living.”
Even a mid-winter dip into the frigid waters of Lake Summerside didn’t change his mind.
“You can’t park here”
Lauren Beatty is tackling an issue almost all Edmonton residents deal with: seasonal parking bans. The fourth-year Bachelor of Design student is working with the City of Edmonton on her DESN 410 capstone project, which aims to improve messaging about when residents need to move their vehicles, and where they can safely park when the bans occur.
Last year, the City launched a service where registered users receive notifications 24 hours prior to parking bans so they can ensure they move their vehicles and avoid ticketing or towing. Beatty spent the Fall term researching issues in the system’s usability, as well as public awareness of its existence.
Student toys with research about gendered play
Pretty dolls and pink strollers. Hot wheels and mechanical robots. The choices children make when it comes to toys can begin as early as age two, explains Keirsten Taylor. "Children begin to understand their identity and gravitate toward play items that are traditionally associated with their sex and gender, as early as the age of two.”
The fourth-year Bachelor of Science, Psychology Honours student, who is working with Dr. Ozlem Cankaya, found that parents have a huge influence over their children’s play – whether they realize it or not. “Caregiver and parent behaviour and attitudes, which can stem from unconscious sex and gender stereotypes, affect how they interact with children. Repetitive exposure to these attitudes can shape how children think about their own capacities.”
Microplastics: Stomach pain for ringed seals
Brynne Radford, Bachelor of Science ’23, has always had a passion for hands-on learning with marine animals. While studying at MacEwan, that passion led to her ongoing research into the presence of microplastics in the stomachs of ringed seals.
Originally brought into the project by her freshwater ecology prof Dr. David Locky, she has been working primarily with Dr. Matthew Ross on research that began around three years ago. She joined fellow student Haylee Hatton, who had already been involved with Dr. Ross’ work, and the trio has worked closely together since.
Effects of intervention on First Nation reserves
In his last year of studies at MacEwan, Brett McKay (Bachelor of Communication Studies ’23) was learning off campus.
After reading about a two-year investigation into poor housing conditions and boil-water advisories on First Nations reserves, by Canada’s National Observer and researchers from Toronto Metropolitan University, McKay was inspired to go deeper.
“Videos encourage celebration of diversity”
Emilie Rubayita is using her skills in video and sound editing to build up Black voices in Edmonton. The fourth-year Journalism major produced a video for the CBC Creator Network, and is now a part of the Stories of Belonging project on campus.
Rubayita didn’t have much experience telling stories outside of written mediums when Sheena Rossiter suggested applying for a summer internship last year with MacEwan’s TV studio. She took on the challenge enthusiastically, and was soon focusing her camera lens off campus.
Ending Sexual Violence Forum Award winner
For Annaleise Walker, a third-year Bachelor of Social Work student and former volunteer with the Sexual Assault Centre in Edmonton, listening to and honouring people’s experiences of sexual violence is something that should happen every day.
That’s not always the case. Sexual violence is severely underreported and the intricacies of memory have a role to play. “Law is rooted in patriarchal systems,” she explains. “Because of this, it demands facts in a chronological and consistent way. If you can’t do that, it says, you must be lying. But we know human memories don't work that way, and traumatic memories even less so.”
Crowdfunding war
Kateryna Kuzmuk was a first-year university student in Ukraine when Russia invaded on February 24, 2022. A few months later, after fleeing the war, she made her way to Edmonton.
“I never imagined that I would have the possibility of travelling across the Atlantic,” says Kuzmuk, a visiting student from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy’s Bachelor of International Relations program. “My family is not very well off, so when I was granted an opportunity to not only go to Canada, but to study there, I tried to take the most from it.”
Studying book culture leads to research
For as long as Ashley Platz (BCS ’23) can remember, she’s always had shelves and shelves of books. What she hasn’t always had? A love of research.
It wasn’t from a lack of trying. Platz was about halfway through a science degree at another university before realizing hard, quantitative data research wasn’t for her. But when she found herself in a research methods class as part of her Bachelor of Communications Studies program at MacEwan, Platz says she fell for the qualitative, social-science style of research.
“I love observing from the sidelines and putting together what I've found,” she told MacEwan’s Office of Research Services Research Recast(ed) podcast.