Shad Alum shares how her summer at Shad’s bilingual Laurentian University campus grew her confidence and opened her eyes to new post-secondary possibilities
As a native Quebecois, Anya Figlarz-Grassino finds the daily din of the French language being spoken all around her both beautiful and comforting. For her, the French language represents the cultural vibe of the Montreal community she lives in, while also connecting her to the rich history of the province she loves. So, when she discovered she’d be attending Shad’s bilingual campus at Laurentian University this past summer, she was excited by the prospect of exploring STEAM in a language so integrated into her daily life.
“There was this real sense of community at Laurentian that I really wasn’t expecting. Because we were a bilingual campus, you had to have English and French communications and all the French speakers who were on French translation duty ended up bonding over that. It was really cool being able to speak French and correct each other’s grammar because it was an opportunity to write and use the French language in a non-academic setting, which a lot of people weren’t used to.”
Anya had learned about Shad in the ninth grade while scrolling online. Not only did it appeal to her love of the sciences, but aspects of the Shad program reminded her of what she loved about some of her favourite extracurricular programs, particularly the World Scholars Cup (WSC), a debate-type competition that brings students together from around the world to learn novel topics and test their newly acquired knowledge.
“There’s something so incredibly cool about going to a new place and talking to people from all different places and you can bond over the experience and the things you have in common…you’re able to meet people you never would have otherwise.”
Though Anya attends an English school at home and lives in an English-speaking household, much of the courses she has enjoyed as a student have been taught in French. And though she would have been just as pleased to attend a non-bilingual Shad campus, she was eager to explore the post-secondary STEAM topics and lectures in French.
“When it comes to the basics of science, up until the ninth grade I had never had a science course in English. So, it was it was really fun for me to actually know the terminology and be able to be a lot more comfortable in French. I didn’t realize this until I got to Shad, but in an academic setting, I’m probably better in French than I am in English in some ways.”
Anya had never visited Sudbury and was excited to explore the Laurentian University campus and surrounding area. ““Sudbury is gorgeous! I was not expecting it to be, but the nature was so nice.” Her and her fellow Shads even took a camping trip their first weekend on campus, the memory of which still makes her laugh as she shares the experience.
“It was nice and sunny when we got there, we were playing volleyball in the lake and just enjoying the weather. Then, walking back to the tents, it started pouring! Everything was soaking wet, so we hid in a school bus and just sang songs and talked. That is a memory I’m gonna carry with me for life.”
“I’ve been able to do some coaching at my school, and I’ve loved being someone that they can always look up to. I always make the friendships within sports a priority, and now in the hallways the students that I used to coach will come up to me and talk to me, and we can bond on other levels. It makes me feel good to be able to help people who may not be able to find that support or that relationship in their own lives.”
Though she had always enjoyed her science courses, her time at Shad helped Anya discover her love of the humanities. The experience of participating in lectures about topics she’d never explored before helped her to connect with new interests and post-secondary possibilities she hadn’t previously considered.
“During lectures, I would take notes, and every time we got a more humanities-focused lecture I would think ‘whoa, well this is so cool, this is really interesting’. And that’s when I realized that I love learning about science, but something in the humanities is more the university path I’d like to take.”
In addition to re-evaluating which university program she might pursue, the increased confidence that came from her experience with university-level topics in French also got Anya thinking about where she wants to attend post-secondary.
“Doing the courses in French showed me I was able to really do it. That was interesting because I actually hadn’t even thought about a French university before…and now I’m thinking about it, I might consider that option.”
Participating in extracurricular programs, like the WSC, has afforded Anya the chance to share the French-Canadian culture with students from around the world, something she places a lot of value in. So, she was thrilled to see lectures on French-Canadian history and culture as part of the program at Shad Laurentian, which afforded Shads from other provinces the opportunity to become more familiar with an important part of the country’s history and social fabric.
“It was really nice to see such a focus on what the French culture has to offer in one of our lectures. Meeting students from other parts of Canada you realize how different it is for kids in other provinces who aren’t living in French spaces, and the lectures helped to teach them things about another part of Canada.”
She is grateful to have had a Shad experience that reflected some of the important elements of her daily life and hopes future Shads will find their own experience on Shad’s bilingual campus just as rewarding.
“Shad was a great experience regardless, but I know other Shads enjoyed the added learning moments that came with speaking French as much as I did. It helped to grow my confidence in a different way seeing that I could do a lot in French. It kind of opened me up to university options I hadn’t thought about and that’s really exciting.”
