It’s August already, huh? Summer always seems to just fly by, and the summer of 2022 has been no exception. OUSA has been sweating all season, and you can keep reading to learn more about all the things we’re getting so pumped about...
PRESIDENTIAL UPDATE
August is here, and Jessica Look, OUSA President, has some things to share.
“Although the end of summer is bittersweet, back-to-school season has always been a personal favourite time of year. For me, while returning to university was different from shopping for new notebooks and cool gel pens in high school, I was always excited to see what another school year would have in store. This year is no different! OUSA has been diligently (and very eagerly) preparing for our Fall General Assembly in October and setting our advocacy priorities for our Student Advocacy Conference in November. We’ve also been working on our fall campaign, centred around sexual and gender-based violence, so keep an eye out for that in the coming months! I’m looking forward to the campus visits we’ve been planning too, so look out for OUSA visiting your campus this fall!”
Find the full update here.
OUSA UPDATES
RGB: Issues in Post-Secondary Education, an OUSA Summer Capstone Project
Vivian Chiem, OUSA Summer Advocacy and Communications Intern, released RGB: Issues in Ontario’s Post-Secondary Education, a collection of photographs and data to visually highlight some key themes from the 2020 iteration of OUSA’s rigorous bi-ennial research undertaking, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Survey (OUSS). RGB (red, green, and blue) uses colour theory through 9 colour-coded photographs about sexual and gender-based violence, affordability, and mental health, and accompanied by text featuring data from the 2020 OUSS and other sources.
Experience the photo series now, live on our website here and featured on our Instagram page here.
Think Tanks and Focus Groups
As we gear up for a full year of policy-writing with our incredible student leaders, OUSA’s team of Steering Committee members, student authors, and Research and Policy Analysts (big shout out to OUSA’s powerhouse RPAs, Malika and Shemar!) have been hard at work facilitating conversations and conducting research to put together strong policy papers on Tuition, Ancillary and Incidental Fees, Student Entrepreneurship, Employment, and Employability, Two Spirit and LGBTQ+ Students, Student Accessibility and Disability Inclusion, and Teaching and Assessment for our annual Fall and Spring General Assemblies!
BLOGS
A few more introductions to OUSA’s Steering Committee and Observer members hit OUSA’s blogosphere last month, including:
Introducing Elizabeth Wong, VP Education at McMaster University
Introducing Josh Sankarlal, President at Ontario Tech University
Visit us at ousa.ca/blog to read more about all our sweet Board members!
WHAT'S NEXT?
Sreen, OUSA’s Summer Research Intern, is excitedly putting together the last of her capstone project, a research report on the accessibility of culturally sensitive services in Ontario’s post-secondary context. Keep an eye out for more updates on this front; fresh research is coming your way!
Meanwhile, Malika, Editor of OUSA’s annual print publication Educated Solutions, is hard at work finalizing edits ahead of our upcoming September release. This year’s edition, Where Do We Go From Here? The Future of Post-Secondary in Ontario, will examine the vision for various areas of the post-secondary experience. We look forward to sharing what stakeholders and students have to say about their hopes for the future of Ontario’s post-secondary.
And of course, fall means all things research and advocacy are back on campus. Stay in touch to hear more about OUSA’s falltime campaign (this year’s topic of choice? Sexual and gender-based violence and prevention), our Fall General Assembly (potentially the highly-anticipated, long-awaited in-person return!), our annual Student Advocacy Conference (when was the last time OUSA’s student leaders enjoyed breakfast at Queen’s Park?), and more.
The summer may be ending soon, but the year is far from done…
Sending y’all the very best of health, and wishing you all a wonderful end-of-summer,
The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance