Now in her fourth year of study, Taylor has done it all during her co-op career from working at RBC, to the Communications Coordinator at the University of Waterloo Relations Department, The Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, and her latest position at the Intact Centre for Climate Adaptation. Her time at the Intact Centre has lead to a part time job researching flood prevention, urban heat, and wild fires where she is able to work at the intersection of PACS and the environment.
Through her role as the Communications Coordinator at the University of Waterloo Relations Department, she had the unique opportunity to interview students and staff about their research.
What I loved most about this position was discovering the different ways people are advocating for equity either directly or indirectly around campus.
Outside of co-op Taylor has been heavily involved around campus. In her first year she was prominent in re-establishing the PACS Society and served as Co-President from Fall 2015 to Winter 2017. In this role she ran various events for her fellow PACS students such as movie nights and panel discussions. In 2018, Taylor was part of the Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship (ICPF) Planning Committee which brought together students from thirteen schools for a three day conference on Restorative Justice. During the conference, Taylor served as a moderator for the alumni panel and wrote an article detailing the event for Waterloo Stories.
Taylor has spent multiple terms volunteering at the Women’s Centre at UW, has begun working with Fossil Free UW, has served food with Lawyers Feed the Hungry in Toronto and Social Bite in Edinburgh, and was a camp counsellor for Peace Camp. Peace Camp is a day camp at Grebel for youth aged 11-14 packed with activities and field trips with a social justice spin which encourages youth to inspire lives, strengthen ties, and make peace happen in the Waterloo Region.
My advice to anyone in any faculty is to just take a PACS course, any PACS course. PACS 329, the Restorative Justice course, literally changed my life in terms of healthy relationships and perspective. You can’t go wrong with any course in PACS
In the future, Taylor hopes to train in mediation at Community Justice Initiatives (CJI) in Kitchener, and to further her education to find a career path that allows her to work within the intersection of Peace and Environment