University Recruitment- London, Ontario

By Alicia Sayer

September 28 2009, London ON

I went to the city of London, Ontario to speak to Aboriginal youth (who bus to the city and/or live in London) in a local highschool. The experience brought me back to my time while in high-school as i was given a backgrounder on the youth who attend the school--> the cliques, pre-conceptions, experience etc. of the Aboriginal population. This made the visit that much more important because I distinctively remember the day the same Universities came to speak to me and recruit the Aboriginal youth in Sault Ste. Marie. I wanted to let them know what education had given me, why I believe it's important and that each of us had a dream or goal and education can help us achieve that. More importantly, I let them know that I had similar experiences in high school; I was bussed into the city and experienced similar situation and feelings--both negative and positive.

I had a written a speech prior to attending this event, but when I seen the students, I said to myself, "I can't read to them my memorized speech, I have to be as real as I can be. I'm not going to reach them by reading off a 'ready-made script'". I felt the speech went "okay"; I was diagnosed with social anxiety and this makes me analyze, and at time,s over analyze situations in addition to other characteristics.

Canadace Brunette made the visit much more easier and really helped ease me into the situation. If she was not there, I would have been much more anxious and worried before meeting the youth. I also enjoyed speaking to the ScotiaBank representative and asked for feedback to see if I represented ScotiaBank to their liking for the NARMP program.

What made this visit much more easier was that I knew the University liasons. This is because my sister, Taylor Sayers, was the Aboriginal Recruitment Officer for Algoma University and I went on a University recruitment with her and was able to meet them prior to this.

Overall, this visit went well because of the familiarity of the people, the experiences and the encouragement given. I would gladly travel back to London, ON anytime. The youth had a calm confidence and brought back fond memories of highschool.