I delivered the following speech last week at Student Recognition Night. Rather than write something new I felt as though this properly encapsulated the thoughts I’d like to impart as I teeter ever closer to the end of my term. I thank you all for allowing me the opportunity to serve you as President and hope, that if nothing else, I was able to at least meet expectations. As always I will be available anytime and for whatever you need until April 30th. Come May 1st, I wish Azim Kasmani, next year’s MSU Board, and all of you, the students of McMaster, the best of luck next year and with whatever you endeavour to do beyond these ivory walls.
My favourite book starts off with the narrator stating “In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I have been turning over in my mind ever since.” Well, among all the advice that both my parents have imparted to me over time, I too can identify a moment in my more vulnerable years when my mother gave me some advice that I have been turning over in my mind ever since.”
Like any angsty teenager, I was seemingly, incurably unhappy at high school. In what might have been a last ditch attempt to change that mind set, my mom told me that “almost never again, will you have the chance to walk down a hall and see so many faces you know, whether friendly or not, that are all going through the same thing at the same time as you.”
Miraculously, somehow that worked, I began to really get involved, to enjoy the company of those around me and even appreciate the school, even to the point of being sad to leave it upon graduation.
Upon coming to Mac I was unhappy again, it was, sorry to say, my last choice. I didn’t enjoy nor did I take part in my welcome week, I lived in Bates, and half my friends abandoned me to other schools while another good portion abandoned me to SOCS. Not to mention, coming in the same year that Van Wilder came out, every guy was competing to be the Van Wilder of McMaster. Seriously, it gets pretty annoying when you hear the phrase “write that down” as much as I did that year. Either way, I turned inside myself again, had no desire to get involved, wanted to focus purely on my studies, and even looked into transferring to another school, or at least exchange programs.
However, as I said, the advice kept turning over in my mind, slowly I began to come back out, with each person I met came interests to explore with them, and with each exploration, came the meeting of more people. Finding a sort of first year niche group of friends, I got involved with SOCS, and when you open one door, more tend to appear. From SOCS, for example, may have come SRA, and from that maybe the Sil, and MacGreen, and Clubs, and so on across anything that I took interest or involvement in, so came additional opportunities, additional doors.
The most important thing to note, in this story that I am sure is no different from most people’s in this room or at this school, is that though the first courageous steps towards doing anything must come from you, the support, the momentum, and the motivation to continue comes from those around you. People, whether close or distant, and those faces that you, and I, just like in high school, see so many of as we walk down the halls of McMaster and know that no matter what faculty, or how old, we’re all going through such similar things at the same times.
I remember a speaker at a welcome week training day a couple years ago telling reps that everything you need to have an amazing University experience is already here, all it needs is you, and as true as that is, I think it is also true to say that all anyone else at this school needs is you too. You are needed to be there, to encourage, to motivate, to open doors, or at least to attract them to what could maybe become their life’s great interest by simply speaking to them at a club’s table some random Monday morning in the MUSC.
Maybe if reps had been there to greet me back in 2002 at the Bates parking lot I might have taken a sooner interest in what McMaster offered, but there weren’t. Nevertheless, I still got involved, and I do have many people to thank for that, whether its my amazing girlfriend, or the legendary Peter “Topo” Topalovic, or countless more, many of whom are in this room and still at this school, I got involved and because of them, and you, I stayed involved. Thanks to others I endeavoured to challenge myself, to put myself out there and to take on things I would not have considered otherwise.
And that’s the power we hold with one another, the incredible ability to invest in each other, the necessary capacity to empower our fellow students.
This year, though not without its challenges, has been an amazing year for the MSU and for McMaster students, and much of that has to do with so many people both in and outside of this room, helping each other, believing in each other, and empowering each other. And if nothing else it has been an unforgettable year for me, and the reason is because of you. Everything that this year has been has been because of you, the students of McMaster. My great MSU board of directors and myself have all you to thank for so much. So, thank you.
Next year there will be more challenges, and if history is any precedence, some may very well be the same challenges as years before. What will make the difference is how we, or rather, you, as students and student leaders of McMaster work with each other, recognize similarities, accept differences, and support each other.
As student leaders, we may, and, as my favourite book concludes, “we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” But never, at any time do we have to do it alone.
Program: BA (Hons) CSCT and Anthropology, BA (Hons) English & Indigenous Studies
Year: Alumni
Residence: Whidden
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 7,615
Thanked:
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Liked:
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:(
We're going to miss you Ryan!
__________________
McMaster Combined Honours Cultural Studies & Critical Theory and Anthropology: 2008
McMaster Honours English with a minor in Indigenous Studies: 2010
Carleton University Masters of Arts in Canadian Studies: 2012 (expected)
We are people of this generation, bred in at least modest comfort, housed in universities, looking uncomfortably into the world we inherit. -- Port Huron Statement
Program: BA (Hons) CSCT and Anthropology, BA (Hons) English & Indigenous Studies
Year: Alumni
Residence: Whidden
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 7,615
Thanked:
913 Times
Liked:
507 Times
Ryan was WAY better than Popham.
__________________
McMaster Combined Honours Cultural Studies & Critical Theory and Anthropology: 2008
McMaster Honours English with a minor in Indigenous Studies: 2010
Carleton University Masters of Arts in Canadian Studies: 2012 (expected)
We are people of this generation, bred in at least modest comfort, housed in universities, looking uncomfortably into the world we inherit. -- Port Huron Statement
I can never compare ryan and popham because I think they are unique in their own ways...I admit pophams administration had some run down issues with finance but that happend with election buff during ryans times...they were really student freindly and great to work with!!!!!
__________________
Nothing is impossible if you believe in yourself.........
Program: BA (Hons) CSCT and Anthropology, BA (Hons) English & Indigenous Studies
Year: Alumni
Residence: Whidden
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 7,615
Thanked:
913 Times
Liked:
507 Times
Ryan made sure he spent time with students and talked to them, regardless of if he was friends or acquiantences of them or not.
I was a Bates rep for two years. Popham completely ignored us during Welcome Week when he saw us in the building, and he made little to no effort to talk to anyone in Bates the year he was there. Ryan on the other hand talked to the Bates reps, was involved in Bates' WW, and was involved in other Bates events throughout the year.
__________________
McMaster Combined Honours Cultural Studies & Critical Theory and Anthropology: 2008
McMaster Honours English with a minor in Indigenous Studies: 2010
Carleton University Masters of Arts in Canadian Studies: 2012 (expected)
We are people of this generation, bred in at least modest comfort, housed in universities, looking uncomfortably into the world we inherit. -- Port Huron Statement
i met both ryan and popham for horizons .... you maybe right... but personally...I can never pick a favv....both of them were awesome and they still dont forget to stop by and say hi!!!!!!hehehehehe... but u r right.,..I did see ryan always wth students.....
__________________
Nothing is impossible if you believe in yourself.........
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