People of Georgian: Top 5 inspiring stories of 2024
Dec. 25, 2024
The Georgian community is full of unique, inspiring perspectives — and we shared many of them this year in our ongoing series. We can’t wait to share more stories from our students, alumni and employees in 2025!
Here’s a look at our top 5 most-read People of Georgian stories from 2024.
5. People of Georgian: Meet Aaron James
Aaron is an alumnus of Georgian’s Occupational Therapist Assistant and Physiotherapist Assistant program. He shares a story of adventure – he and two childhood friends biked across Canada this summer with the goal of raising $50,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society.
There were also some wild moments during the ride. One time, my friend, James, nearly got charged by a moose! We tried to safely pass it on our bikes, with it in the distance, but it got nervous and charged, coming within one metre of James – very close for such a big creature. We laughed about it afterward, but it was scary in the moment.
As well, when storms rolled in, there were a few days we spent hunkered down in ditches with a tarp over our heads waiting for them to pass.
But I think these moments make the best stories because we survived them and will look back one day, like, “Wow, we did that!”
4. People of Georgian: Meet Melissa Smith
Melissa is an employee with Georgian’s Marketing, Communications and Recruitment department. She shares how her hearing impairment led her to embrace self-advocacy.
Because of my lived experience, I’m driven to tackle disability issues through better awareness and education, support, and advocacy work that will improve outcomes for hard of hearing people. I’ve also become increasingly better at self-advocacy.
I have been emboldened by more recent efforts to support people with disabilities through the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging initiatives.
It makes it easier to tell your story somehow, knowing that you’re supported.
I want employers to know they shouldn’t be scared to hire employees with disabilities. We have different perspectives and other compensatory skills, and that’s a resource to really lean into.
3. People of Georgian: Meet Aisha O’Connor
Aisha is the Manager, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at Georgian. She shares two defining moments in her life that sparked her passion for equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging – her coming out story and connecting with an Indigenous community in Northern Quebec.
In that community, I also saw different mental health struggles and a variety of other issues come up in the community, such as limited access to health and well-being services.
A doctor would fly in once a week, and there was only one nurse and one counsellor to support the entire community.
This experience opened my eyes to my own lack of knowledge and understanding around inequities. I was honoured at how generous the community was to embrace me as a guest. Having that experience be an early part of my career and personal learning journey was inspiring.
2. People of Georgian: Meet Mary Spencer
Mary Spencer is a professor in Georgian’s Engineering and Environmental Technologies department. She shares her story about her mom, who died by suicide, to encourage others to get the mental health help they need or to learn how to best support their loved ones.
There’s a lot of stigma around suicide, and it’s a very complicated issue. It’s important to say the quiet part out loud.
It’s perceived that people who choose suicide come to the conclusion that the world would be a better place without them. It is really hard to be on the receiving end of that reality because it isn’t true. Your family and friends want you here.
One thing I know for certain is that my mom is and will always be missed by many.
1. People of Georgian: Meet Jermaine James
Jermaine James is an alumnus of Georgian’s Social Service Worker program. He shares how having a sense of belonging is important for everyone. As a social worker, he embodies inclusion and belonging in his work, as well as personally.
The real emphasis of my passion is connecting with all individuals and helping them connect to their purpose, their destiny, their hope.
The one thing that many of us really need to come to terms with is something actually very simple: be yourself. Do your love yourself? Do you love your soul? If you do, how you treat your soul is how you treat someone else.
So, if you don’t take good care of yourself, then you can never take care of a friendship because you must be a friend with yourself first.
That’s how I do it in my everyday life – being my own friend first.