When thinking about values that I developed during my time at McGill in arts, the first thing that came to my mind was relationships. In these past four years, I have learned that the relationships that I have with my friends, teachers, co-workers and community hold extreme value. It’s within these connections that I learn the best lessons about life, myself and the world. The people I have met and shared memories or knowledge with were the most fulfilling part of any experience I have had. In particular, I worked as a floor fellow at McGill, and my co-workers have become some of the most important people to me. Additionally, in my third year, I was the Vice President Academic at the AUS. When looking back at this degree, the people I worked with in both of these positions, what I learned from them and our shared experiences are what I think the most fondly of, and what I hope to remember the most. These communities I was a part of taught me the power of relationships and connection. I believe there is immense value in relationships. They help us feel like we belong, they allow us to expand our understanding of the world beyond ourselves, and they give us encouragement to grow and try new things while being a safe space to crash when we feel like we’ve failed.
In my first year, I remember feeling so unconnected and lonely. I think loneliness can be a really crippling feeling. It really crept into my academics and my overall well being. When I joined the Arts Undergraduate Society in my second year it gave me the confidence to apply to be a floor fellow. Then after floor following in my third year, I found myself engaging more in discussions in class and actively seeking out learning from my classmates and teachers. I believe the power of relationships, community and connection are what enabled me to graduate and pursue my dream of law school in the fall. Therefore, moving forward in life after this degree, I will be prioritizing seeking relationships and community within the schools, workplaces and spaces I am in as I know this is what enables me to have fulfilling experiences, and allows me to be my best.
The second major take away that came to mind was the idea that we need to have a sense of value and identity outside of our school, work and passion projects. Like many students here, I found myself suffering from imposter syndrome. Whenever things in my academic life got tough, it felt like I did not belong here. Attributing the work we produce to our sense of self is a dangerous road and it’s something I often struggle with. I remember times when I was not able to support my students in residence the best I could have, and it felt like I was failing. In those moments, there is so much to learn and something I learned throughout all of the times I felt like I failed was that my self value is not tied to the things that I do or cannot do. Of course, everything we do is a part of our identity, and I am proud of the extracurriculars I have been a part of and the work I have done to graduate. However, these things don’t define who I am and don’t dictate my self worth. I think remembering that I have worth regardless of what is happening in school and work is one of the best lessons learned from my time here. Going forward, I hope to always remember to take a step back and realize that I always have inherent worth and value beyond whatever job I do or career I chase.
Moving forward to law school, I will be taking these lessons with me. My time at McGill highlighted that I wanted the focus of my career and future education to be the betterment of people ad communities. This is why in law school I hope to gain skills that will allow me to do public service work within the legal field. Being in Arts has also taught me how valuable everyone is, and that there is a lot to learn from each other, this is also something I hope to take with me into my time at law school. I really believe my BA at McGill set me up for success in my future academics. It gave me much more than knowledge. It gave me an appreciation for learning and people which I believe are going to allow me to thrive in this next phase of life.
Christina Rajkumar is graduating with a Bachelors (Honours), Major in International Development and a Minor in Philosophy. After graduation, she will be attending Osgoode Hall Law School in the fall. She would like to give a shoutout to her friends Win, Kayla, Matthew and Elise, who made her time at McGill magic.