Navya Manoj (she/her), a second-year Health Studies student, shares what her experience has been like completing her first co-op with Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA), and how her prior experience with the organization led her to the position she is in today!
Currently, Navya is working as a communications coordinator for WUSA at the University of Waterloo. Her role focuses a lot on engaging with undergraduate students at Waterloo and supporting their needs.
Since joining the organization, Navya has been working on bringing some positivity during these challenging times. “On January 24th, it was National Compliment Day. I worked on a campaign asking students to give compliments about people in their community, in their academic life, in their work life and within their family,” says Manoj.
“We got around 400 responses from that. It was kind of like a contest. We would have three winners from each submission to select from, so we read through all the compliments, and it was a pretty engaging one [project], because it was something that a lot of students engaged in individually, as well as students had a lot of good things to share. It kind of lifted the spirits, especially during this cold weather and everything. I found that was something that I was really proud of.”
Another project she had the opportunity to work on was one called “First Year Diaries”, which ran from May 2021 to the end of January 2022. “We were sharing first year diary stories of students coming to the university during the pandemic and how they're coping, how they're kind of getting used to this new environment. That was something that I really emphasized and focused on, and I was kind of like the project lead in the sense that I kind of organized everything from start to finish. So, that is something that I'm pretty proud about,” says Manoj.
How did you come across this job opportunity?
“I have worked part-time for WUSA over the past year, starting in my first year, I was already working with WUSA as a part-time graphic designer. When it came around to application time for my first co-op, I noticed that they were posting positions at WUSA such as the communications coordinator position.”
“They noticed that I applied, and then they kind of directly reached out to me and said ‘oh, because you have experience here will definitely look into it’, and the entire application process went pretty well, and that's how I eventually ended up receiving that offer.”
“I never really heard about the communications coordinator [position] until I actually saw it on WaterlooWorks, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is a pretty interesting one.’ That's why I applied. So, I applied to that one, and because I also knew the comms department there.”
“They knew me to some capacity as well. My former manager as a graphic designer, is now the manager on the comms side, so she knew me.”
How did you feel when you were first starting your co-op term in comparison to how you feel now?
“I think at first, I was a bit nervous, because it was a bit of a change of responsibility. Compared to full-time staff and part-time staff, and the changes in the responsibilities themselves, it was quite different. I was a bit nervous like, ‘oh, will this be the same way as me being a part-time graphic designer?’ I did enjoy my work as a Graphic Designer, and I think that's what really compelled me to the job. I was wondering, ‘will it be harder than being a graphic designer?’ ‘Will it be completely different?’ ‘Will it be something that I don't like?’”
“Then there were a bunch of new processes for that position. Getting used to that was also something that I had trouble with, but now when I look back, because of that learning process within job training, I was able to kind of overcome that fear of ‘oh, what if I don't know if I'm going to be comfortable with this?’ I think overall, I was able to reach that point where I thought ‘I actually like this position’, and it's kind of sad that this is only gonna be there for four months.”
What’s next for you?
“A couple of things that I am working on, maybe not like a passion project, is kind of transferring my work as a graphic designer to other graphic designers. There is a little bit of offboarding process for me to fully focus on my communications coordinator position because I did work with other organizations, like WUSA clubs to kind of run their social media account. I think it's pretty interesting that I'm able to kind of teach other graphic designers and kind of train them.”
“Other things that I am interested in, as well, is kind of also looking forward to new campaigns within WUSA. Whether it's more carefree and a light hearted campaign, contests, and getting the student community engaged. It could be a bit more serious, kind of focusing on maybe restrictions, advocacy, government advocacy, anything that kind of addresses students issues.”
“At the moment for me, it's kind of all over the place, so I'm trying to focus on the health aspects that can be done at WUSA like speaking more about the health and dental plan, housing and mental health.”
Navya would like to also give a huge thank you to her manager, Stacy, and supervisor, Dana! She says, “I’m very comfortable in my environment, thanks to my manager and my supervisor, because a lot of my experiences are thanks to them.”
