I am incredibly honoured and grateful to have received these awards in recognition of my time at SFU. My interest in anthropology, and its approaches to studying people and culture, expanded with each course I took. Professors and texts introduced me to human stories across the world, and encouraged me to be self-reflective at the same time. In reading about any other person, I learned more about myself and reflected on how I have been influenced by my own culture. Anthropology has given me the ability to recognise that each of us is constantly shaping, and being shaped by, our interactions with the world and to consider how these individual stories form larger narratives.

I continually notice the ways in which studying anthropology comes through in my daily life. I see myself being more considerate, empathetic, and inquisitive in my interactions with people and more able to understand alternative perspectives. It has also increased my interest in learning about as many cultures as I can. Since graduating I have spent time traveling, which has been a great opportunity to employ what I have learned at SFU as I met new people from various backgrounds. Through understanding how so much of what I am comfortable with had been normalised by my culture, anthropology has allowed me to be open to new food, new customs, and new experiences.

My success as an undergraduate has motivated me to return to university to complete my Master’s degree in the future. I currently work with children and youth in my community, and am interested in studying socialisation and identity formation of school-aged children. I would like to thank the Department of Sociology and Anthropology for providing this award and supporting the education of students like myself.

It began at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, where I dabbled in a few Arts courses before realizing that Sociology as a discipline spoke to my heart and mind. I knew that I wanted to pursue a post secondary education, but initially nothing seemed to captivate me. That was until a class with Dr. Fiona Whittington Walsh, a professor who brought the things I actually cared about into a classroom. She offered me a new language to define the injustices and the inners workings of society that I thought about daily. We were talking about racism, sexism, capitalism, ableism, LGBQT issues. Real stuff. Soon enough I had completed my associates’ degree and became eager to continue my studies at SFU, a school that I felt could offer me a wider breadth of courses in this field. In turn, it did and within my first semester I also discovered my affinity for Anthropology.

With the complementary nature of both subjects, it felt instinctive that I pursue the joint major. I was drawn to both Sociology and Anthropology because they each presented me with a theoretical lens in which to understand the world around me.  I wrote papers and delivered speeches about concepts that held my interest, like” Women and the Politics of Cosmetic Surgery”, or “Elder Care Practices through the Lens of Ethnicity”. I was able to engage with my peers about what it meant to be an intersectional feminist, we discussed complex social problems and mulled over potential holistic solutions. We read (a lot) about the rich stories of people’s lives, and their multifaceted encounters with the state, society and their respective communities. I learned the importance of linking together how gender, race, class, ability and various other social attributes frame one's lived experience. These few years have deeply shaped my desire for social change both from a grassroots perspective and an institutional one. I intend to continue the journey with the pursuit of a Masters degree one day, perhaps in Women’s Studies. I am changed as a person because I committed myself to these disciplines and my capacity for empathy, alongside a genuine willingness to understand the complexity of human life will never end.