From Laurel’s Desk – March 2021 | Academic Newsletter | Seneca Polytechnic

in the March 2021 issue

I am not sure where the time has gone, since every day seems pretty much the same to me, except for the longer days and the parade of walkers – now no longer dressed in parkas and boots – children on bikes, the sound of basketballs on driveways, and of course the birds, including robins and red-winged blackbirds, my personal harbingers of spring. What’s to shake me from the torpor I generally associate with a long winter that has been amplified by working from home?

According to Chip and Dan Heath, the authors of The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact, it is moments, positive or negative, that have the potential to thrust us into action. They stick with us and influence our choices and behaviour, which results in impact – some immediate and some not fully realized for years to come. Heath identifies four characteristics of these “positive, memorable moments”: elevation, insight, pride, and connection. They suggest these moments can be constructed by thinking about and using these elements. If you pause and think about your personal "moments," no doubt they involve family and friends, mentors, colleagues and yes, teachers. Perhaps you pursued your discipline and field and this vocation as a result of a personal moment as a student.

As teachers, you create those impactful moments with students. All the time. And these are not occurring by happenstance. By elevating, providing insight, instilling pride, and most importantly creating deep connections with students, you are setting them on a course to have, as Heath says, “extraordinary impact.”

Let me end with giving you just one example brought to my attention recently; it was shared, along with some others, with the Academic Planning and Student Affairs board committee to showcase student-led initiatives. The Sustainable Development Goals Student Hub, founded by Fashion Business Management student Suad Ali, was put forward. This club has grown to more than 150 members and has held four events with plans for ten more this semester. In a short video, Suad describes herself as being a fashion business management person “at heart,” but that she “found a new passion that is sustainability. I educated myself on the SDGs and I believe Sabine (Weber) really recognized how interested I was and fully obsessed with the SDGs in general. She nominated me and introduced me to SDSN Canada.” It was that nomination and connection that Sabine made for Suad that has led to the creation of the SDG Student Hub. Suad says she established the hub “to educate and inspire Seneca students” and to “help them learn about and engage and take action.” It’s important to note that the SDG Student Hub includes students from across Seneca. The video ends with Suad stating “we Seneca students have great potential if given the opportunity and unconditional guidance.”

Well said, Suad, and kudos to Sabine Weber and so many other Seneca faculty and staff who create powerful moments. One never knows where they may lead.

I wish you all the best. Stay safe, stay well, look after yourselves. And continue to inspire.

Laurel

References

View the March 2021 issue of the Academic Newsletter.