{"id":27976,"date":"2022-08-17T12:22:24","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T19:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/announce\/?p=27976"},"modified":"2022-08-17T12:23:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T19:23:15","slug":"global-development-studies-provides-major-turning-point-towards-law-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/announce\/2022\/08\/17\/global-development-studies-provides-major-turning-point-towards-law-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Development Studies experience turns attention to law school"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A connection to community and education clicked in the third year for UFV student Alicia Dyck, who’s now applying for law school.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIf I met me in my first year, I wouldn\u2019t even recognize me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Alicia Dyck knows that she has come a long way since her first semester at UFV. She recalls being a shy, quiet student who lacked a sense of belonging but in her third year, it all changed. \u201cI used to feel like I was at UFV for no reason but then I found my real community and it was an instant click,\u201d Alicia says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took me a really long time to figure out what I wanted my major to be. I started in history, went to political science then thought I might want to be a teacher. I didn\u2019t know anything about Global Development Studies (GDS). I looked into it and right away thought \u2018oh my gosh, I want to do this\u2019.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Alicia credits GDS for being the turning point in her university experience. In her 3rd year, she did a practicum with a lawyers group called Advocates Without Borders in South Sudan providing legal representation to anyone needing help, specifically combatting gender-based violence and campaigning for policies.<\/p>\n

The next semester, Alicia registered for a course with Dr. Geetanjali Gill, who she came to admire greatly. Alicia emailed her and asked if she had any research assistant positions. Enter a ground-breaking opportunity in foreign climes!<\/p>\n

In summer 2021, Alicia joined Dr. Gill and Catherine Liao\u2019s project on Albinism in Sierra Leone. Her area of focus was gender-equity. \u201cThe project had ten gender champions who we trained remotely in a 4-hours session. Champions took what they learned back to their communities to share their learnings,\u201d Alicia explains. In an effort to further empower persons with albinism in rural regions of Sierra Leone, gender champions were also taught the long-standing cultural tradition of weaving.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the experience, Alicia notes, \u201cwhen you get to talk to the people you\u2019re working with and they tell you how they\u2019ve been impacted, it\u2019s just the best feeling to know you made a difference. Seeing how you can take your breadth of knowledge, share it with someone else, then see the impact on their life is definitely a huge highlight!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so grateful for Geetanjali and the opportunities. She\u2019s my biggest role model,\u201d Alicia says. \u201cI\u2019m excited to start our next project working with the George Washington Institute for Gender-equality. The topic is gender-based violence in refugee camps in Uganda and Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expressing her appreciation for her research assistant experience, Alicia adds, \u201cUFV is so unique in the fact that students get to do student research assistantships and conduct academic research as an undergrad. It\u2019s a small community but when you make good connections, they really stick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wishing she got involved with research sooner in her academic journey, she shares her advice for the shy student – \u201cprofessors want to engage with you. They won\u2019t even remember how awkward you were the first time you met. If you like what you study, you\u2019ll love being a research assistant. It\u2019s that simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to her amazing experiences, Alicia recognizes her academic advisor for countless hours of dedication and career advice. \u201cKristen Trustham, my advisor since day one, is the most amazing and supportive person. I\u2019ve seen her every semester, including summer, and she has always guided me on the right path and encouraged me. I\u2019m sure I changed my major like ten times!\u201d<\/p>\n

Following her practicum, Alicia knew she\u2019d found her calling working in law and once again met with her advisor to confirm her academics were aligned with her career choice. She is thankful for the doors that were opened to her by her time in GDS and in the RA positions that followed. \u201cMy involvement with Advocates Without Borders was what got me thinking \u2018I could really do this for the rest of my life!\u2019\u201d Alicia has completed her LSAT and is applying to law school.<\/p>\n

08\/27\/2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf I met me in my first year, I wouldn\u2019t even recognize me!\u201d Alicia Dyck knows that she has come a long way since her first semester at UFV. She recalls being a shy, quiet student who lacked a sense of belonging but in her third year, it all changed. \u201cI used to feel like … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,2,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-myufv","category-news","category-ufv-today"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/announce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/announce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/announce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/announce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/announce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27976"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/announce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28001,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/announce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27976\/revisions\/28001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/announce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/announce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/announce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}