Written by Christina Marchand (BSc '14)
After graduating this June, everyone keeps telling me “welcome to the real world.” And I’ve been trying to figure out what this so called “real world” is. How is it different? What does it mean? Am I ready for it?
You see, as a co-op student, we live in 4-month intervals. 4 months of work, 4 months of school. 4 months we have a real job, wear professional work clothes, wake up at 7 and go to bed at 11 every night. It’s like playing kitchen when we were toddlers, playing pretend grown-up for a while until the 4 months are up. We relinquish all responsibility to our employers and then return to become students again! The exciting thing is the challenge of going back and forth and testing our classroom theories with real-world applications.
But
we
don’t
forget
the
journeys
our
co-ops
have
taken
us
on.
We
got
to
know
a
new
company,
often
a
new
city
or
country,
filled
with
the
trials
and
tribulations
of
new
roommates,
co-workers
and
new
friends.
The
co-op
experience
has
allowed
us
to
step
outside
of
our
comfort
zones
long
enough,
to
let
new
experiences
transform
our
minds
and
our
hearts.
I
often
wonder
though,
if
I
am
ready
for
the
“real
world.”
I
have
been
in
Calgary
for
the
last
3
and
a
half
months
and
as
I
look
down
at
my
hands
I
notice
the
calluses
from
my
last
move
are
almost
out
of
sight
and
if
things
work
out
as
planned
I
will
be
here
for
quite
some
time.
Will
my
hands
learn
that
this
time,
after
4
months,
I
am
not
packing
up
all
my
belongings
and
moving?
Maybe
that
is
what
“welcome
to
the
real
world”
means?
Or
maybe
the
real
world
means
that
the
institutions
that
so
graciously
gave
me
loans,
will
so
be
calling
a
little
less
gracious
to
get
it
back?
It’s
true
that
on
paper,
I
don’t
have
riches
at
the
moment;
but
anyone
that
sees
me,
knows
I
am
wealthy.
I have passion, excitement, health, knowledge and experience granted to me by one of the best institutions in the world. This has inspired me to mesh the two worlds and create a social enterprise!
About a month back, Muhammad Yunus was speaking at the University of Waterloo. Professor Yunus, is a social entrepreneur and Nobel Peace Prize winner for his work in building Grameen Bank (a micro-loans operation for the poor). Professor Yunus said: “Money provides happiness. Selflessness provides super happiness.” In his writings he also equates the poor to Bonsai trees – the small potted tree, unable to be self-sufficient not because its seed is bad, but because it wasn’t planted in enough soil.
Professor Yunus also says, “to me all humans are entrepreneurs. It’s in our DNA.”
This gives me great hope for the social business I helped co-found with my fiancé: FullSoul Canada.
I’ve decided instead of searching for the so-called “real world” I am going to live in pursuit of the world I imagine. The world we have created here in classrooms! The world I’ve talked about with my fellow graduates until the wee hours of the night. The world I imagine each day in growing FullSoul Canada out of the University. I dream of a day where social business will be the only business, and that there will be enough soil to seed the earth, making sure no human is a bonsai.
If there is anything I have learned from the University of Waterloo it is that ideas do start here. But ideas are like wings – their power comes from being able to spread them out and fly into the world. I know my hands will come to love the lack of moving calluses and instead find solstice in moving ideas through the world.