Friday, June 9, 2017 by Mary Lynne Bartlett
Hello everybody! I'm Alexis Nagum, a second-year student in Liberal Studies at University of Waterloo. I'm excited to be joining the Library Ambassador team this term!
As an avid user of social media, I came across many of the Library Ambassador organized events last term and was inspired to apply to be part of this program. I was caught completely off guard when I found that the students weren't just there to facilitate the events, but were completely responsible for creating, organizing, and implementing them through the term project. After that, I knew that this is the perfect opportunity for me engage with the student community, and maybe make a positive impact on student life.
As an Ambassador, I spend a lot of time interacting with students through events like Academic Integrity tables and feedback sessions. I'm also responsible for developing a term project, an event geared towards student engagement.
My project this term puts focus on notable women in STEM fields, and how they play an important role in STEM developments. Coming from a science-heavy background where the foundational skills consisted of learning theories that more often than not, are named after men, I wanted to spotlight the women and their contributions to their fields. Beside Mary Curie or Rosalind Franklin, there weren't many women scientists I, nor my friends could name. This event is meant to educate students by exposing them to some notable women and their accomplishments as well as get them engaged in conversation by giving out buttons. Ideally these buttons would be a sign of their support of women in STEM and a conversation starter with others, to spread the word. After all, everyone loves buttons.
Our library here at the University of Waterloo is a wonderful resource for students. There are Liaison Librarians for every subject, which not many students know about, are a great part of our resources. The Liaison Librarians are playing a big role with this project as I consult with them to determine which women out of a history of women in STEM fields I should choose to spotlight. I'm especially looking forward to working with them.
As a Library Ambassador, I've been able to improve my time management skills and event planning skills. Between my work, my volunteer responsibilities, and my workload, I've never been so aware of the passing of time. I find myself working more efficiently to get schoolwork completed earlier and organizing not just my weeks but forecasting things months in advance to manage the timeline of all the components of my project. This is my first time creating an event to such scale on my own, and it's thrilling. The Library Ambassador program is an excellent opportunity for students to work with the library to gain experience, build their skill set, and learn about the extent of library services. I encourage students who are interested to apply, and to utilize all the resources the library has to offer!
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