Making the Most of Your Opportunities with Jaden McGregor
The Master of Peace and Conflict Studies (MPACS) program offers many chances for learning to its students. Among other aspects, it presents opportunities to develop worldviews, understand conflict, and contribute to peacework. Few students take advantage of these opportunities like Jaden McGregor, who is now in his final term of the program.
While Jaden completed his undergraduate degree in Geography and Aviation, he was drawn to Peace and Conflict Studies in an effort to explore potential options for a minor. After he was introduced to a few PACS courses, he was immediately hooked. “I recognized that a big part of my identity, being Anishinaabe and Jamaican, and a part of my worldview came from a PACS lens.” He said.
Specifically, within the courses, he reinforced his passion for mediation and community building thanks to the opportunity the program offers to engage directly with these topics. The choice to pair aviation with PACS is certainly not typical, but Jaden wanted to be able to explore his passions fully. “I'm passionate about being a pilot, but I recognize that my interests are not just one lane, and I thought that it was really important to explore and figure out other parts and how they intersect.” He noted.
As Jaden graduated and moved on to the MPACS program, he got to dive into more in-depth classes and workshops. Taking courses and workshops like Negotiation & Difficult Conversations allowed him to strengthen his proficiency in communication and advocation. These courses and workshops dug past the surface. “Different perspectives on peacework gave me an opportunity to look at forms of community building that are not traditional, specifically art as a form of peacebuilding.” Jaden expressed. As a photographer, he understood the power of art as self-expression but had not considered its value for building communities.
Workshops, like PACS626 – Conflict Resolution Skills Training, offer quarter-credit experiences as ways to supplement students’ education. “They offer more applicable lessons, like how you’re going to be using the bigger, more academic ideas taught in class. It’s a good contrast.” Jaden said. Beyond just the content, the workshops offer valuable flexibility. Often lasting just a few days, they serve as short, focused experiences between or during busy semesters. This allowed Jaden to audit a course he was interested in while preserving his full-time student status, which would have been impossible due to course conflicts.
With graduation imminent, Jaden has been able to look back at his time in the program and offer advice to prospective students. Firstly, he urged students to try and make connections between their courses. He pointed out his own experience with this as he takes PACS 611: Reconciliation and PACS 605: Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding, saying, “What I've really enjoyed this last term is that I can put them in conversation with each other and that’s been really valuable because it reinforces the learning, it feels bigger than just a class.”
Finally, Jaden wanted to remind students of the importance of taking your time. Although a lot of students feel that they should rush through their education to get on to the next part of their journey, it takes away from the process of learning. This is something Jaden was able to appreciate himself, completing his undergraduate degree without any semesters off. However, towards the end of his MPACS degree, he decided to make a change. “Allowing myself to not have as high as a courseload let me learn and enjoy the content more. It gave me time to engage and integrate the courses into my thinking.” In addition to allowing for better engagement with the content, the lighter courseload allowed Jaden to build more connections with his professors and classmates.
Throughout his time at Grebel, Jaden has truly taken advantage of all the opportunities presented to him. Whether that be engagement in courses and workshops, or conversations with faculty and peers. As he enters his next stage in life, he will take with him a new perspective on the world as well as skills in a variety of fields.