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NEWS: BSA MacChats are back
From relationships to entertainment and wellness, BSA invites Black students to relax and chat with different editions of the MacChats series
Elisa Do News Editor
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In a school of over 30,000 students, how do you find community? Sometimes it might be about connecting with those who share the same interests and passions; sometimes, it can be about finding a bond in shared experiences.
Created about two years ago, McMaster University’s Black Students’ Association recognized the minority of Black students on campus and aimed to create a community where all Black students can connect with one another.
Ashley Assam, BSA’s president, explained that the importance of creating unique spaces for Black students lies in the uniqueness of Black experiences in the first place.
“There’s no secret that Blacks people have been marginalized for a very long time, especially given everything that happened a couple years ago with all these cases of police brutality and obviously the murder of George Floyd. It definitely took a hit on the community and I feel like having a space is necessary because Black students also face these mental health challenges that have to do with their own experiences, but [these] don’t often go addressed or they will need to get addressed by someone else who understands their experience,” said Assam.
One of the events that BSA has been hosting is called MacChats. MacChats invites Black students to get together for casual conversations. Usually, a theme will be announced for each MacChats discussion, but students are not limited to speaking about those topics only.
This winter semester, BSA has hosted a total of three MacChats so far with varying themes. This includes conversations about relationships, sports, entertainment and well-being.
Assam explained that during these events, BSA members will pose a number of questions to the group and allow students to carry their own conversations. With limited capacity for in-person events, ‘MacChats’ have been held on Zoom so far and breakout rooms are often used for people to divide into smaller groups.
Although MacChats serve as a space for casual conversation, Assam shared that MacChats help cultivate deeper, meaningful conversations as well. For example, in their first event about relationships, there were discussions about what it means to engage in relationships with other races as a Black person.
Some of these discussions may be more sensitive or up for debate, Assam explained, but what’s important is that BSA wants everyone to learn from each other.
“The whole purpose is not to like shut down other people’s ideas; it’s just a place for you to voice your opinions and also kind of learn from other people and learn about what
they think,” said Assam.
With its unique role on campus, BSA acts as a social group where students can relax and bond with one another during events like MacChats, but Assam added that BSA is also there to help Black students succeed. BSA will often share resources to help connect Black students with opportunities in hopes of helping them feel supported throughout their time at McMaster.
To Assam, BSA is about having a safe space with this special community.
“BSA really just means having a community of people on campus that truly just want the best for you. So, what we tried to do with BSA is let every Black student know that you don’t have to be any way — any certain way. You don’t have to adhere to any stereotype. You don’t have to look a certain way just to exist as who you are. [Y]ou’re free to be who you are
PHOTO C/O Black Students’ Association
Ashley Assam
“BSA really just means having a community of people on campus that truly just want the best for you. So, what we tried to do with BSA is let every Black student know that you don’t have to be any way — any certain way. You don’t have to adhere to any stereotype. You don’t have to look a certain way just to exist as who you are. [Y]ou’re free to be who you are and we accept you as who you are and we want to see you succeed,”
Ashley Assam
How nursing fails to accept and equip a diverse range of students
Abonti Nur Ahmed
News Staff Writer
In Canada, healthcare is a highly selective field to pursue. Unfortunately, within such a selective process of picking students, the student body is not fully representative of the population it’s supposed to help.
Tsinat Semagn, the president of the Canadian Black Nurses Alliance McMaster, shared how the small number of Black students present within her nursing cohort at McMaster leads her and her Black friends to become hyper-aware that they are among the only Black students in the program.
“The number of Black students in the McMaster site in my year is 4 out of 120 students, which is 3.3 per cent. This is the total number of students who were enrolled in the basic fouryear Bachelor of Science in Nursing program in 2019,” said Semagn.
Nursing students participate in care scenarios three to five times per semester depending on their classes. Yet, within her three years as a nursing student, Semagn said that only once was a Black person used for these kinds of case studies.
“A lot of these scenarios are white people. There are a few Indigenous people but you rarely see diversity. There are very, very few Black patients represented in these care scenarios. I think I can only remember one time where we actually had a scenario, in my entire three years and we do three to five per semester, every semester . . . A week ago I did my first Black patient,” said Semagn.
Over a long span of time, these disparities in learning can lead to disparities in the healthcare provided to Black patients.
“In healthcare, there are studies that show that white physicians and healthcare professionals have this perception of Black patients, that Black people are stronger [and] don’t experience pain the way that other races do. So that of course affects their care,” said Semagn.
Within the health sciences program, to encourage equitable admissions, McMaster created the Equitable Admissions for Black Applicants process. It allows for self-identifying Black students to have their applications processed by a panel of Black faculty members, alumni and students. This came to be implemented because the faculty of health sciences noticed that Black students were underrepresented in the program.
However, an admissions process like the EABA is not offered to nursing students. Moreover, nursing is one of the only faculty of health science programs that do not have a supplemental application.
“On top of [grades and the CASPR test], having a supplementary application where we are talking about life experience and bringing more of us and what we have to offer . . . being able to articulate that as a written [component] would be beneficial. They can see that this person has a lot to offer,” said Semagn.
Semagn noted that McMaster doesn’t promote a lack of diversity on campus. Instead, the university only mentions there are ways in which they can improve and allow for a more diverse atmosphere.
“I don’t know if I could say that I feel like McMaster as a whole is adding to [racial biases in the education system]. But I do know that there are some things that they are not doing — that they should be doing — to promote diversity,” said Semagn.
Programs like nursing at McMaster serve as an example where Black students are disproportionately underrepresented. In a field where lived experience affects patient care, lack of diversity fails to prepare them for the populations that they will meet in the future. It is up to universities, to decide to listen to the
Tsinat Semagn
JESSICA YANG/PRODUCTION ASSISTANT students and patients around them to better the systems they have created.
Tsinat Semagn
S Advance your career with this option McMaster from Continuing Education
ElevateYourSkills allows students to gain professional learning alongside their degrees, helping students increase their chance for jobs
Elisa Do News Editor
Amarah Hasham-Steele
News Reporter
The ElevateYourSkills option at McMaster Continuing Education enables Mac students to gain professional learning alongside their degrees. ElevateYourSkills an accessible and flexible way for students to gain career skills in a wide variety of areas.
Lorraine Carter, director of McMaster Continuing Education, explained that, with the competitiveness of the job market, this option can equip students with the tools that they need to succeed professionally. Carter also added that the option was particularly built with students in mind.
“Now there is great attention by industry, employers [and] government on not only academically prepared students but also students who have a practical skillset when they graduate. This idea of elevating or enhancing the skills that you can utilize shortly after graduation is what ElevateYourSkills is all about,” said Carter.
Carter emphasized that traditional university education, which often includes more theory-based learning and less practical knowledge, is also incredibly valuable for academic enrichment and skill development. She further emphasized how academic skills are even more valuable when complemented with practical skills.
“If we think about, for instance, the social sciences and the humanities, they cultivate many important skills, but they can be hard to articulate. Whereas, if you are an English student or history student and you can complement your studies with courses and programs that are focused on career development, then I think you are in a better and easier place to leap forward and secure work that is ideally meaningful for you,” said Carter.
Michael Foster, a communications student at McMaster, completed a digital marketing certificate through McMaster Continuing Education. As a fourth-year student applying for jobs now, Foster is glad he did the program.
One of the greatest benefits, Foster said, was being able to put the theoretical knowledge he learned from his communications classes into practice.
“[T]here were some aspects that I got taught through communications that complemented the different technical skills [in digital marketing] such as search engine optimization or digital marketing strategy, market analysis or Google ad campaigns and how to properly write different captions, closed captioning and blogs for different companies . . . I thought it was really, really good to understand that, while also understanding my theoretical side, so I can put everything into my best practice,” said Foster.
The number of courses that a student takes for their certificate depends on their area of professional study. For Foster, he took five courses which he finished in about two years, all of which he took online.
The flexibility to study online and use the courses in his certificate as electives towards his communications degree helped Foster complete the certification alongside his busy schedule.
Now, as he is about to graduate and enter the workforce, Foster said that he is getting a lot of job interviews and believes the extra certificate has helped prepare him for the job market.
“When I first went into my certificate program, I was looking at the industry and how future jobs in my industry are kind of difficult to come by at the time. [I] saw what the requirements were for those jobs and I promised myself that after my undergrad I don’t want to try and get any big education again for another two years. I just want to go into the workforce, start making good money and certainly get a name for myself in the work experience. So, as I was looking for what these jobs needed, I realized my degree is kind of missing some of these things,” explained Foster.
Given that completing an extra certificate is not something everyone does, Foster emphasized that doing so was a way to stand out in the workforce and be ahead of other competitors.
“It helps when [employers] are scanning through your resume and see your technical and theoretical skills that come from your undergraduate degree,” said Foster.
Foster encourages students to consider the ElevateYourSkills approach especially if their degree does not directly lead them to the workforce.
“If you’re a person who is kind of looking for a route that’s not necessarily given to you directly through [your] degree program, look to expand, look to create your own path because there are options out there and ElevateYourSkills is one of them. It helped me out a lot and it gave me a little insight into the real world. That helped me get to where I am today,” said Foster.
Interested in learning more about ElevateYourSkills and how you can get a career certificate alongside your degree?
Visit: mcmastercce.ca/elevateyourskills.
