Semester in Residence Bio
The question I always get when I tell others that I am spending the semester in CityLAB is, “What do you do there?” I reply with the following five things: 1. Learn project management skills, 2. Get involved with the different communities of our city, Hamilton, 3. Gain new sets of skills, 4. Work hard and 5. Play hard.
The CityLAB Semester in Residence (SIR) experience is all about immersing yourself in the communities around you, learning about their challenges, achievements, general thoughts, and doing something about it. It challenges you to take leadership roles, engage with the community, and work with the city to innovate and produce a change.
What made CityLAB as amazing as it was, was the people that were a part of it. From the instructors to the management staff; they have all played a large role in making the experience as informative and enjoyable as possible. The SIR students were perhaps the biggest factor in building the diligent and safe environment of CityLAB. The relationships formed during my time in CityLAB will last a lifetime. The students helped each other through the assignments and projects, applying their own skills to collaboratively produce astounding work.
My personal favorite lessons learned included deep skills and dialogue taught by Brian Baetz and Anna Marie Pietranton. Deep skills explored the skill sets required to work efficiently without burning out in the process. As Brian would often say: “You are like racehorses. If you don’t feed the racehorse, get it some exercise, and let it rest, how will it compete in the race?”
This was an important lesson for many of us to learn. As university students, we are used to pushing our minds and bodies to the max to do well. However, we don’t realize how quickly we burn out as a result. Such a lesson is to be kept in mind throughout our lives and I already see many of the SIR students applying it during stressful times in their lives.
Meanwhile, Anna-Marie taught us the different aspects of dialogue required when being involved in community engagement. The discussions the class engaged in on these different topics are something I will always cherish. It provided us with the opportunity to view issues from several perspectives rather than just our own. To say the least, it was an eye opening experience.
Overall, the CityLAB SIR experience has been the highlight of my university career. It has been such a great way to gain hand-on experience working with communities as well as with the City of Hamilton. I would highly recommend the CityLAB Semester in Residence to anyone that is up for the challenge!