SFU’S new strategic vision takes lessons to the streets
Student inspired to raise donations and funds for food banks
Simon Fraser University student Richard Loat won’t graduate until June, but he has already made use of his communications course to do a cross- Canada project raising donations and money for food banks.
Loat exemplifies SFU’S new strategic vision, released on Monday, which centres around community engagement.
Under the new strategy, the university will work harder to ensure that students get not only classroom instruction, but also the tools to conduct their own research, develop their own ideas and go into the community — or even abroad — to apply them, SFU president Andrew Petter told The Vancouver Sun. It also means ensuring that the benefits of SFU research are realized in the community, he said.
Loat, who was taking a course on how to leverage social media to effect change, said discussing his charity work in the classroom challenged his perspective and made him less afraid of trying out new techniques.
“Having professors that are active in the space that they’re teaching in and open to incorporating real- life examples has been huge for me,” Loat said. “It’s this mutual learning model where I can talk to my prof about something I’m doing and he’ll table it for the class ... you sort of help shape the curriculum.”
Loat is the founder of Five Hole for Food, a charity that raises donations and money for food banks by holding street hockey games across Canada.
Loat and three friends travelled the country in 2010 and 2011, using social media to organize the hockey games and find volunteers and participants, who would bring donations to the food bank. He found 49 of his 50 volunteers across the country — and one of his major corporate sponsors — on Twitter.
Loat’s charity raised 45,000 pounds ( 20,400 kg) of food at 13 street hockey games in 17 days last year, a sevenfold increase over the 6,000 pounds ( 2,700 kg) raised on a previous tour in 2010.
SFU marketing student Stephanie Wong said she has benefited greatly from the university’s co- op program, through which students get hands- on experience in the workplace. Wong did four co- op placements — at BC Hydro, an advertising firm, a luxury travel company and L’oreal cosmetics.
“It’s been a way for me to test the different areas of my career that perhaps, from the classroom learning, I didn’t know if I wanted to pursue it further or not,” she said. “It gave me a chance to really have a hands- on experience, give it a test drive.”