By Summer Wu, Inclusion Coordinator and Bachelor of Social Work student
The Inclusion Coordinator, a student peer support role, was created in April 2024 to cater to the needs of Renison students, particularly equity-deserving students (initially identified groups include racialized students, international students, 2SLGBTQ+ students, mature students, and neurodivergent students). Based on the feedback gathered in Winter term 2024 from Renison’s Belonging Project’s surveys and consultation sessions, such roles are critical in creating a sense of belonging and making Renison a more inclusive space.
How did it start?
The story of how my Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) path intersects with the Inclusion Coordinator role was dramatic. During our BSW placement fair, I paid no attention to Renison’s booth, thinking it was the school’s display for the BSW program. A while after, out of my expectations, I was contacted by Renison for an interview (it turned out that my placement manager passed my resume to the Student Experience and Housing team). With some uncertainty and confusion, I attended the interview. From there, I understood how the Inclusion Coordinator role could be connected to my social work placement.
The Inclusion Coordinator role was created to achieve Renison’s mission of inclusion and belonging. To be more specific, we are here to identify any gaps in student services within the organization through an anti-oppression and anti-racism lens and constantly work towards and advocate for closing these gaps. Inclusion Coordinators are the more approachable peer-support roles to students on campus. One of the critical roles of the Inclusion Coordinator is to program and facilitate various events to help dismantle marginalization and isolation through community building, which highly matches my expertise and interest. I had a vivid vision of myself serving a diverse student population with my event-organizing skills and experience. Without hesitation, I started my journey at Renison as an Inclusion Coordinator.
Summer hosting a National Day for Truth & Reconciliation booth
A sketch of the journey
My Inclusion Coordinator journey began in late August 2024 with the student staff training, where I had the privilege of meeting all the amazing dons and peer leaders as well as my wonderful companion, Keziah Mukalel (the other Inclusion Coordinator). Understanding from the training that we would start from scratch, I felt both excited and nervous about the sailing.
To quickly blend into the Renison community, we started our journey by attending and helping with all events organized by the Student Experience and Housing (SEAH) team, such as Mel’s Breakfast and Chill with RASC hosted by the Renison Academic Student Committee (RASC), Succulents & Ice Cream Social hosted by the English Language Institute (ELI) Peer Leaders, and the College Dinner hosted by Residence Dons. In addition, I facilitated the very first session of the Chinese Student Hangout event, which welcomed 35 attendees in total. I also co-facilitated the Racialized Student Hangout with my partner Keziah and the Mature Student Coffee Chat event with Stefany Kraft, the Student Experience Coordinator and our supervisor. Notably, we gained our first one-on-one case management experience in the first week of the job by assisting a student in accessing all the necessary resources for their specific situation.
The following month, we focused more on introducing the new role (Inclusion Coordinator) to our community members. Other than the regular Link Inclusion Lounge events (Racialized Student Hangout, Chinese Student Hangout, Mature Student Coffee Chat, Queer & Cozy, Neuro Night), the highlight of the month would be the Link Inclusion Lounge Open House event.
Under the guidance of our two supervisors (Ryan Connell and Stefany Kraft), we collectively brainstormed and carried out the open house event plan. While preparing for the open house event, I was inspired to create a short video introducing the Inclusion Coordinator role after studying the Belonging Project report. The open house event received many of our faculty members, students, and some main campus partners. As a result, the visibility of the Inclusion Coordinator role and Link Inclusion Lounge events were greatly increased. We have started to have more students joining our events through word of mouth.
As BSW students, we hope to incorporate what we have learned into our practicum. From a strengths-based perspective, thinking about what Renison students, as a community, can contribute to society, we organized multiple initiatives in November aiming to inspire students to reflect on social injustice in our community and take action to support equity-deserving populations. For instance, the Giving Tree Initiative provided a chance for our equity-deserving students, who are low-income family members or single parents, to request a free holiday present for their children. Meanwhile, our faculty, staff and students had the opportunity to warm a family’s heart with their kindness. Moreover, our holiday card-making initiative has brought many kind and encouraging words to many women and children in one of our local domestic violence shelters.
The 2024 Fall term ended with a fruitful month by making many meaningful connections with on-campus and off-campus community partners. In December, we reached out to the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office (SVPRO), ݮƵ Undergraduate Student Association) WUSA Services, International Experience Centre (IEC), Health Services on the main campus, as well as the Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC), Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Treatment Centre (SADVTC), and DrinkSmart outside of campus to build partnerships in order to make more resources available for our students. We also started the process of creating an “on-the-go” resource bin for students’ easy access at all events.
The Winter 2025 term started freshly with the opportunities to work more independently and practice programming skills. In January, we introduced two new programs -- Wellness Wednesday and peer health drop-in booths. I was particularly excited about utilizing my organizing and planning skills and incorporating creativity into these programs. Keziah and I worked collaboratively to deliver different themed recreational events every Wednesday at noon time to help our students de-stress and unwind, including colour and chat, circle of positivity, 10 minute Yoga, and Puzzle challenges, where students may choose to drop in and participate in these fun activities or simply grab a snack and go. We have also created multiple peer health outreach trifold boards and delivered a drop-in booth focusing on safe dating, educating students on unhealthy relationships, and better protecting themselves or others. In addition to our regular monthly gathering event to celebrate the Chinese Spring Festival with our Chinese student community, I organized a dumpling-making special edition for our Chinese Student Hangout event, where we recruited 18 participants and made about 500 dumplings in total, which served over 40 people in the cafeteria.
We continued our work on programming in the following two months while carrying them out. We delivered another peer health drop-in booth focusing on Safe Sex and Consent Week, aiming to address sexual assault incidents in a harm reduction approach. We organized a Black History Scavenger Hunt on one of our Wellness Wednesday events to recognize Black History Month and promote services and resources in our Lusi Wong Library. At the end of the month, we also collaborated with WUSA student-run services to organize a WUSA Services Fair, making resources on the main campus more accessible to our students at Renison.
In March, I independently planned and delivered a special workshop on the Chinese Student Hangout event, inviting students from all backgrounds to join a roundtable conversation circle to dismantle stereotypes against Chinese students through friendly conversations while making meaningful connections. To date, the total number of students who participated in our events is over 100. It is worth noting that as the relationship and trust continued to grow, I had more opportunities to connect with individuals seeking one-on-one assistance in academic success, career advice, and other matters.
Now, we are entering our last semester, marking our final term of service. It is time for us to wrap up and prepare for a smooth transition. As we continue our regular duties, we will be busy looking for your next Inclusion Coordinators and documenting all vital information to ensure you always have the equitable and adequate support you need. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back!
Final thoughts
The time we spent at Renison was transformative! During my practicum, I gained incredible work experience, practiced my soft and hard skills, and was trusted and given the space to turn my thoughts into actions. This impactful experience greatly broadened my understanding of social work. I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve the Renison community.
It was a pleasure to get to know our lovely and kind community members, to work with our wonderful dons and peer leaders, to collaborate with and learn from my partner Keziah, and to engage in so many amazing Renison events. I would also like to dedicate my special thanks to Ryan Connell (Assistant Director), Stefany Kraft (Student Experience Coordinator), and Scott McLeod (Chaplin), who generously and graciously provided support, guidance, and mentorship in my Inclusion Coordinator journey. I am honoured to be one of the first operators in this pilot program.
I look forward to seeing more fellow students benefit from this role, to serve or be served.
Summer connecting with visitors at our Link Inclusion Lounge Open House.
Happy students making dumplings for our Chinese New Year event
A student participating in the Black History Month Scavenger Hunt.
Interesting conversation at a Chinese Student Hangout event.
To learn more about the Inclusion Coordinators and our Belonging Project, visit our Link Inclusion Lounge webpage.