By: Tony Xu
Before Sheridan, I can comfortably say that my life was a mess. To sum it up in one sentence: I just did not meet the right people at the right time and because of this, I was very miserable. Sheridan didn’t seem any different from other schools when I first started. The same new student orientation, the same services provided and the same amount of homework. However, as I slowly began to get to know people, my perspective started to change.
Sheridan was not the first post-secondary institution I attended, but there was this elusive feeling that I couldn’t tell back at the time. The staff, faculty and the students here seemed no different, but as I started to pay more attention to the people among me, I was fascinated by how much the community was willing to show up. In my second semester, I was invited by Danielle Lapointe, the Coordinator for Student Leadership Engagement and Development, to join the Collegiate Leadership Competition that Sheridan was taking part in. I was so surprised by the fact that she was willing to sit down and have a 1-on-1 chat with me for a whole 45 minutes. If you have been in post-secondary you know why I am surprised. Because, most of the time, a lot of people just don’t care. In my experience at university, first year students were merely numbers, and the professors or staff made zero effort to remember me.
What is so funny is that these things are contagious. When I see my peers or colleagues embrace challenges and show up to their calling, I unconsciously become more resilient myself. When we were practicing for the competition, we had a lot of challenges. Seeing my peers and my supervisor willingly engage those challenges and bounce back from difficulties taught me a lot. What I have learned is that the people that you surround yourself with do matter and they do influence you even if you don’t realize it yet.
Another person that has inspired me is Lynnette Stevenson. She is a professor in the School of Public Safety. Lynnette is a humble person that treats everyone with respect. Whenever there are hard times, she cheers me up and tells me to keep going. She inspires me to always strive for my best and approach challenges with courage.
It has only been a year at Sheridan for me, and I feel like a completely different person. There are people in my daily life that I can look up to, and encourage me to strive to be a better person myself. I have learned to be more grateful for the ordinary things in my life, and show up more for my community because I now know that I can make a difference.
In a time of incredible change, we are all experiencing this monumental shift together. With a global pandemic, the transition into online schooling and so much more, members of the Sheridan community have become chameleons to welcoming change into their daily routines.
But not every situation starts and ends so easily. There are hardships, challenges and struggles that we experience to come out successfully on the other side. In this blog series, students, Sheridan Alumni, and members of our Sheridan community will share their stories of resilience and how they were able to overcome these obstacles.
The obstacles will vary from physical, emotional and mental, and our hope is that there will be something for everyone to read and grow from.