From the Perspective of a Recent Alumna...

“...listening to the voices of the students is always the best way forward.”

“I’m thankful that the school has always provided an outlet and opportunity for students to question and explore their own areas of interest. I am grateful for the skills I’ve learned, the places I’ve visited, and the friendships I’ve made that have shaped the person I am today.

But as a young minority, one thing I recognize is often ignored is systematic racism experienced within education. I’ve always been aware of my race and religion as a kid, but the growing tensions within society and institutions have caused me to become cautious about honesty, I learned the most and had the

my actions and careful about what I say, relevance with respect to the changing

which resulted in me feeling deprived of who I was.

Knowledge itself is important because I believe that you cannot fully implement change until you understand who you really are. I felt that people always wanted me to compromise an identitheir studies and implementations of a

ty that was impossible to hide. To water-down my heritage and normalize its extents in order for me to prove and say,

'hey, don’t be scared, I’m just like you'. Any changes, regardless of scale, is

It was hard for me to see the beauty of differences outside of what was deemed to be standard. And personally, I knew my identity was not a trend, it’s embedded throughout my everyday actions, and starts as soon as I wake up.

Though, there were times during my undergraduate education where I felt like I was told to conform, to accept the given curriculum because we didn’t really know architecture. But later throughout the years as a teaching assistant, I coming classes become more diversified in race and gender. I felt that relationships with my peers made a huge difference throughout my educational experience. I became more confident about my heritage and who I was, simply through having open discussions and dialogue about culture and worldly issues. In best support from my classmates. And going back to Waterloo for my master's was probably the best decision I made, because it gave me the full freedom to explore my culture without abiding by studio-based requirements that were mandatory in other institutions.

This was a chance for me to tug on forgotten roots, to ask questions about my world. I got amazing support from my supervisor, staff, and peers, which kept me motivated along the entire process and journey.

A final critique would be that students shouldn’t feel that they have to wait until master's to experience the liberation in diverse education.

always found it beautiful to see the inalways beneficial, because it definitely is going to take some time to re-think and re-design a system that has been in place for centuries. And primarily, listening to the voices of students is always the best way forward.”