Campion College students make a difference
Since Campion College opened its doors 100 years ago, the Jesuit institution has offered students not only a quality education, but also a chance to engage with the outside world.
Campion’s Engaged Learning Program allows students to give back to the community while gaining practical experience.
Paige Willfong-Mackie, a fifthyear neuroscience student, volunteered at the North Central Family Centre in Regina through the program last semester. She played games and worked on crafts with kids and helped serve them supper.
“I eventually want to go into medicine and psychiatry and part of that involves dealing with kids who have come from not the most positive backgrounds,” Willfong-Mackie said. “In talking to people beforehand, I realized there are lot of stereotypes surrounding North Central. I want to help these types of kids one day and you can’t have biases, so I wanted to push myself. It was amazing getting to know the kids and their stories. They’re wonderful and I made so many great connections with them.”
The Campion College International Service Learning gives students a chance to engage in volunteer work in other countries. Shae Greggains, who is preparing to enter the Faculty of Nursing, received the scholarship this year and will travel to Fiji this summer with Volunteer Eco Students Abroad (VESA). Volunteers will teach English and construct rain water catchment tanks in a Fijian village, later focusing on marine conservation.
“Traveling abroad for missions has always been in the back of my mind, and one day when I walked into class there were posters on all the chairs for VESA and Fiji is the location that stood out to me the most,” Greggains said. “As a biology student, with particular interest in marine biology, I hope to learn a lot from the hands-on experience of the marine conservation portion of the trip.”