 Well, good morning everyone. My name is Andre Ploedman, Dean of the Faculty of Public Affairs, and thank you very much for joining us this morning. I hope that you will be able to learn a bit more what it's like to be a student in the Faculty of Public Affairs. So to give you some insights into that, we have two students here with us today to talk about their experiences and to answer any questions you might have. So I'll introduce both students, then I'll turn it over to them because they are the stars of the show. So first of all, I'd like to introduce James Prouse, who's a third year student in the Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a concentration in international relations and a minor in law. James works on Parliament Hill when he's amongst us here at Carleton. And then we also have with us Dawson Bain. Dawson is a fourth year student in the Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management, but he's here today because he has a minor in economics, so he's part of that program as well. Dawson has served on the Arthur Kruger College Educational Students Society this year. It is a part as a partner of the community outreach portfolio. So without any further ado, I'll turn it over to James. Well, good morning, everybody. I guess, yeah, we're so morning. Good morning, everyone. And thank you to the Dean and thank you to Stephanie for setting today's session up. Again, my name is James Prouse and I am a third year political science student with a minor in law and legal studies and my concentration in international relations. When preparing for these sort of events, I often look back at my own application documents and acceptances and I, and I think how exciting it was to be accepted to university. But I was thinking on my way in to work this morning that I couldn't imagine applying to university and getting ready to transition during a pandemic when other classes are now online. So I hope to, I hope Dawson and I can answer some questions or settle some nerves that some of you may have I can imagine a lot of people's plans have been upended by this pandemic. So, yeah, I'll just tell you a little bit about myself and then address some areas, and then pass it over to Dawson. So I actually didn't originally come to Carlton for political science I came to Carlton for public affairs and policy management that Dawson will be able to talk about. I switched for a couple reasons. Nonetheless, it's still a great program. But I switched to the Bachelor of Arts in political science and I haven't looked back since. It's been an awesome program thus far. I've loved all my professors. I love my classmates and it's of course great to be in Ottawa. One of the most important things that I learned in first year was I really came to appreciate the breadth and the depth of political science as a discipline and as an academic unit. I kind of came in with the assumption that political science is going to be all we're going to learn about the House of Commons or Canadian government but it's really interesting in first year that I would it opened up my eyes really to the vast amount of intersections political science has with law and economics and other other departments. So it's really, that's really eye opening great. Another very important lesson that first year taught me was the ability to think and write critically to accept other people's opinions and other people's arguments, and really be able to reflect on those and incorporate those into making myself a better learner as well as helping me understand an issue beyond my perception of the issue. So overall, and I don't want to sound cliche here. First year was, like I said, it was great. And it really opened my mind, I find that really had helped me develop as a person very quickly. And, like I said, I haven't looked back since Carlton also is just amazing like I said, because of the capital health connection capital advantage what the faculty calls it. Because of there's no better place to study politics than in the nation's capital itself I know our school is 15 minutes away from Parliament Hill where numerous students work as political staffers like myself or have internship so I volunteer at non governmental organizations, gr firms work in the public service. So it's great besides the, the opportunities to get involved. It's just a really great opportunity to really understand the context of the political issues that you're going to talk about my some extracurriculars that I was involved in in my first year, and I still am involved in them actually off campus my first my favorite extracurricular is volunteering at the Ottawa mission. I actually made aware of this opportunity through connecting the community program through residents. And it's really just great a great opportunity to explore the Ottawa community to explore how people live beyond campus and it really just opens up your eyes to some issues that are going on in the community, but it's really great to volunteer and it's helps you get off campus on campus though on a more positive and uplifting note. My favorite extracurricular was being involved in a youth wing of a national political party, which really helped me open the doors to tons of experiential opportunities on Parliament Hill here. It helped me almost get my first job working on Parliament Hill. I met tons of like minded young people from across the country who also work on Parliament Hill and it just created a lot of great friendships. And then now I'm going to talk about a couple things that I wish I knew before coming here to university. And again, I don't want to sound cliche here but one of the major points I want to drive home here is that it's going to be okay and it sounds silly but this pandemic has really like I said upended a lot of people's plans and really at the end of the day, university is a massive change. We in our loved ones often place unrealistic expectations upon yourselves and it's important that we don't be too hard on ourselves. Aiming high of course is great but it's important not to compare ourselves to peers and not to get too down on ourselves when we don't achieve some of the goals or the expectations that we had. I certainly didn't achieve half of the things I wish I had achieved in first year, but it's part of the learning experience and that leads me to my next point that I wish I knew in first year as well that plans change. In many respects in first year I missed a lot of a lot of great opportunities by being stuck in my ways and being persistent on sticking to my original plan that I had coming into university. But then I ended up switching programs I ended up taking different courses than I originally planned. I ended up doing a lot of different things than what I originally planned so I would say follow the path that university takes you on, not the path that you had planned out for yourself. Adapting and evolving as a person following this path that university will take you on will prove to be a lot more rewarding than the plan that you think you have laid out for yourself. That's pretty much the end of the substantive remarks from me if anybody has any questions. I'm happy to take questions after Dawson speaks. And I'm also happy to connect with you guys individually I can share my info at the end of the presentation here. Happy to talk about school professional opportunities or anything else that anyone may be interested in. I'm going to hand the floor over to Dawson I really appreciate the opportunity and for everyone listening to me thank you. Okay, thanks a lot James that was that was great. You covered quite a bit so I'm going to do my best to follow that but for real thank you. So hi everyone good morning. I'm Dawson brain. Although I'm not an economics major I've taken quite a few courses in economics so that's why I'm here today I'm actually as Stephanie said at the beginning I'm in the public affairs and policy management program. With a minor in economics and a specialization in economic policy so you guessed it I do like economics. So yeah just let me drive this home to actually James made a really good point that things will be okay I know it's super weird right now. I can't imagine how you must be feeling coming into a world you have no idea what it's like, especially with the pandemic and things are online I'm sure it's intimidating but you know I think one of the things I learned in first year especially is you, you just adapt you. Hunker down and you get it done so have faith in yourself have confidence things will be okay. So one thing that I learned in first year I think James also touched on this as well as how interconnected all the courses you're going to take our, you know, economics 1000 was really eye opening for me, I had not taken economics before. First year, and it really opened my eyes to how society but you know how markets work how the world functions in a capitalist way so you're going to learn so many things that's one example of how many things you'll learn that you'll apply to law, policy, whatever you take. So just, you know, as absorb as much as you can. You can't lose everything that you take on is only going to benefit you extracurricular wise on campus I was in first year encouraged to do intramural basketball. My friends had done high school basketball and they need me to join I don't even particularly athletic but it was an amazing time I met so many different people not just on the team that we put together but other teams as well. And, you know, basketball is not your thing there are many other extracurricular intramural leagues like hockey like football soccer. Whatever you're interested in go for it it's so many opportunities and outside sports there as you're probably aware you probably read this online there are over 200 clubs on campus. And there's a massive club expo right at the beginning of the year I don't really know how that will work with the pandemic but I'm sure that they'll still be taking new recruits people they always want people to get involved. See, don't worry about that there will always be something where you can find your place and find something that you can grow as a person. And then off campus. I don't do this right now but I was lucky enough to work on Mayor Jim Watson's reelection campaign in 2018. And that was an amazing experience so I'm pretty sure in your time at Carlton there will be another municipal election so you know keep your eyes open for that that's one example of off campus involvement that you might consider. Again, another great way to meet people get your name out there get experience on your resume, you can't lose it was it was an amazing experience and Jim Watson's a great guy I was really lucky to meet him so yeah I look back on that very fondly. And then one thing that I wish I knew in first year. So out of high school when I applied to public affairs policy management, I applied with the co op option, just because I've heard that it was good and it'll be valuable experience for you. I seriously underestimated how valuable that experience would be. I don't know how many of you are considering co op or are already enrolled but I would really recommend that you at least consider it if it's something that would work for you. It was, I was lucky enough to get a position at transport Canada last summer from my first co op term. And I really liked it. Everything went really smoothly so I was lucky enough to get hired back again for the fall and then this summer as well so that opportunity has led to two other opportunities where I've been able to grow my experience and my knowledge of the public policy world and it's been amazing and I, if you had asked me in first year, what co op would do for me I wouldn't been able to tell you that but so I'm telling you now, just maybe consider it. And then, yeah, I think I'll finish with it's first year certainly an adjustment I, I would never sugar coat that it's it's a lot of times. But I was certainly not as dedicated as I was in high school, or I'm more dedicated now than I was in high school, I maybe didn't try as hard in school or I didn't feel as confident in my intelligence but Carlton has this amazing way to transform you into a person that is passionate about something you'll find what you really excel at or what you feel strongly about if you don't already know that. And you'll learn a lot about yourself and how you fit into this world that we're living in. And I really can't credit Carlton enough for giving me the skills to learn that about myself. So have faith and have confidence you're going to do fine and enjoy every minute of it you only get one first year. I know it's going to be weird but you only get one so make the count. And then yeah like James said I'm happy to take questions afterwards. I'm also happy to connect. In the school year or now we can talk about anything more than happy to answer any questions. I think that's it for me. Thank you so much James and Dawson couldn't have said it better myself. Definitely. Thank you so much for sharing those experiences with us today. The session is open to questions for anybody. Please feel free to either unmute your mic now and ask your question either to both of our ambassadors today or you can single out one. The chat is now also open for questions if you prefer writing them in the chat I will read out the question and our ambassadors will answer the questions. So I'm actually going to start off the question period today. This is to both of you. How do you find the workload in person versus online. You want to go first James. Yeah sure. So I actually began taking some online courses through summer school and before the pandemic so I find that online courses are a lot more self directed. The profs give you a lot more leeway to make sure that your readings are done to ensure that you're especially if it's more if it's not live for example through zoom or through a big blue button. You have to ensure that you're reviewing your readings you have to ensure that you're reviewing the PowerPoints the props put up or the lecture notes. I know I've had like at even at the beginning of the pandemic. When we moved all online a lot of the teachers were kind of like what are we going to do now so they just a lot of them started posting their speaking notes for example so in conjunction with the reading speaking notes taking your own notes and comparing them to the readings online is a lot more self directed but I mean it's very rewarding if you're a if you're a student that can hold yourself accountable. A lot more so than I find in class. Yeah I would have to agree. I have this on self direction you really have to be disciplined and okay so now your bedroom is not just your sleeping area but it's also your workspace it's okay I need to sit down on my desk and put in four hours of work today on x y and z and you'll get there that's that's just part of learning how to be self disciplined I'm sure with high school it was kind of like that as well with the pandemic you know that was online too. So you're that's nothing new for you it's just a matter of setting out okay today I need to accomplish this and doing it. And then one other thing I James kind of touched on this too is it's also been challenging for teachers and props, I like, you know this is an adjustment for them to. I'm going to have to be sympathetic to that that okay they're still figuring out what's the best way to deliver the course and how can I learn still and not necessarily make their lives more difficult but ask effective questions that will actually further your learning and the class is productive. Questions so as long as you can have that awareness and that sympathy for them it's learning as well then you'll you'll excel. Thanks. All right, so I have a question in the chat from Ali to James. How do you get an internship on Parliament Hill. Is there anything I should be doing in first year to make myself a better candidate. Oh, you're muted. I'm a moron. Sorry. That's a question a lot of students ask, especially what and I can address this from two different ways. And maybe Dawson can talk about this. I don't come from a background in the public service. That's not something I've ever really been interested in I'm more on the political aspect of things. So I can't speak to if you're looking for an internship with the public service I can't speak to that. On the political side, there's a plethora of different ways that you can go about getting an internship, and whether you want to be a volunteer or you're looking for something more substantive in terms of maybe getting a job. Most of the three main political parties on campus offer some sort of internship program through their, their activism on campus, where they'll connect you with members of Parliament on the Hill, where you can volunteer for example once or twice or a week, however many is comfortable. But I would also say like if that's this is something you're passionate about maybe you're a member of a political party back home, or maybe you have some involvement with a campaign or an elected member back home definitely say reach out to them or email their Parliament Hill office and say hey listen. I'm a political science student or a Papam student I'm looking to get involved in to expand my network. I, we get a lot of emails like that, especially in my office, the member of Parliament I work for. And it's so exciting to see when young people want to get involved, especially coming from somebody like myself who's in university. As soon as I see that I'm always jumping at the opportunity to get my boss to bring them on and see if they can get involved in our office so not going to ramble on here but definitely there's a lot of different ways reach out to some of the ground work yourself. Or do it through a campus wing of a political party. Those are the most common. I know I think it's access is it Dawson that I think they run some sort of program where they will connect you with a member of Parliament. But I'm not I'm not sure about that program. So yeah, maybe Dawson can touch on the public service side if he has anything to add. Yeah, I'll just jump in really quick. Just to finish up the on the Parliament Hill side, you can even check the Carlton job board or the volunteer board as well. The my success portal that's that includes co op that includes internships, even just jobs and volunteer opportunities. Amazing resource they post like political parties or members specifically will post. They're looking for a volunteer for eight hours a week and it's a great opportunity. I was privileged enough to do that in second year with a member of Parliament just by the job board so check that out as well and then public service wise. I don't really know if there are too many volunteer opportunities available but definitely if you go on F sweat that's federal student work experience program or the co op job board if you're interested in co op super easy to get access to those student jobs with the public service across all the government agencies. Organizations excuse me so lot. Yeah, like James said, a ton of different avenues you can take to get to those opportunities. Thank you so much. I really hope that answered the question. I think that was those are great answers. So I do. I did forget to mention the beginning of the question period that when it comes to looking into signing up for certain courses or changing courses. The best thing to do is to talk to an academic advisor, you can find them and make online appointments with them on the Carlton website. So just just let you know that you should visit your academic advisors, usually twice a year once a year is good as well I visited them every semester and I found it quite helpful to keep me on track. Yes, I just wanted to if the issue is more about changing programs than changing courses, then I think, you know, Stephanie's advice about talking to an academic advisor holds even more strongly because it's, it is a bigger change. However, please, please understand our programs in FPA, most of them are designed to make it relatively easy for you to walk across programs to change your programs, especially kind of in first year or early and second year so there's a lot of flexibility but I would advise you please to talk to an academic advisor, if you ever want to do something like that. Thanks. Thank you Andre. So, those were both in reference to Carmenia's and Isabel's questions. Is it complicated changing your course and finding different course sections to accommodate a busy schedule. Isabel also asked an important question that I think our ambassadors can answer about tips on achieving a work slash school balance, and I think this also goes for social life as well. So how do you guys achieve that balance. I'm muted again, do you want to start maybe Dawson and then I'll go after. Yeah, sure. I think, honestly, that's a really good question and I think it's difficult to answer on a broad basis I think it's different for everyone I think that you'll quickly figure that out. September, October of first year. At least that's when I figured it out. You know you might, depending on who you are, go be going into first year with this mindset of oh I need to pour 160 out of 168 hours in a week into school and that's my life now I can't do anything else. As daunting as it may seem you will have time for you you will have time to, you know, have a socially distanced hangout you will have time to watch Netflix as long as you chunk what you need to do if you set up a nice schedule for yourself and say okay if I can put in my four hours of work today on X, Y and Z then I'll have the rest of the day to work out or do whatever you need to do. It really is just about self control and organization and if you can set that up early on then you'll be golden for the rest of your university career. Touch on that as well. Yeah, absolutely. And I think the, I think you can also replace, you know, achieving work in school life balance with achieving, you know, personal time like Dawson mentioned versus school balance. I came into first year with the mindset of being incredibly dedicated and I think not taking time to take care of myself really, really affected me in some ways so I think it's also it's really important that you achieve work school balance but you also achieve personal school balance where you're taking time from away from academics but more on the question of achieving work school balance. I can talk to that I mean I work 20 hours a week so I've had to schedule my courses in the evening. It's good to where some of my profs are also or instructor instructors rather are also lawyers or public servants through the day so they their courses are in the evening I'm very lucky for that. But like Dawson said, make a schedule hold yourself accountable to that. And then some of the courses now are going to be more self directed online. I presume you should be able to do that course work at your own convenience so if that is in the evening or on your lunch break or whatever that I would imagine that would be the best way in proceeding. But make a plan that works for yourself and stick to the plan hold yourself accountable. So we also have we had a question from the man in the chat that said how do we view our courses online and access syllabus underneath that Dean Andre did answer that course outline should be available online through see you learn by the end of August or early September. And then that one's nicely answered. Thank you Dean. And then we have another question from a man and they asked is it manageable to double major in both economics and political science. I'll start off by saying it depends on the person everybody's course loads and university experience academic and socially are, you know, they're always different basically customized to you. But based on what you know and your feelings. How do James and Dawson, how would you respond to this as well. Yeah, so I can't I can't comment directly on economics and political science because I'm not an economics minor, but I can attest to doing a minor and law and legal studies and it's definitely manageable of course because you build taking those courses into your schedule. Right. You take, you take the, I guess the core courses for economics would be in first year and second year I guess similarly to law. But it's definitely manageable and it also helps you develop also as a person because you're going to be able to bring that knowledge that you gain in economics into your political science courses and vice versa. It's the exact same thing with law where you're able to take the practical application of law and statute and bring that into politics and vice versa see how politics influences law so very manageable it's great I love taking a minor. I know maybe Dawson could talk about the economics aspect a little more because I'm not an economics so Yeah, well said James. I'm not taking a double major so I can't really speak to how demanding that would be but one thing I will stress is how valuable a resource the academic advising team is. So if you were to take this question to them early on and say look at this is my plan this is what I want to do by the end of my university career I have no doubt that they'd have no issue setting up a detailed plan or at least give you one year of plans to Okay do this for first year and we'll see how that far that gets you because that's that's literally their job that's what they're meant to do so you know if that resource is available for you then definitely take advantage of it. And then yeah for taking a minor. How difficult a minor would be to add to my degree and they basically broke it down for me step by step and what it was needed for me so with that type of organization, I think it's very doable. And so just to say more generally it's certainly possible to do a double major in economics and political science and you can do that either through the Bachelor of Arts. You can do a double major in political science and then double major in economics or you can do that through the Bachelor of Economics and then do a double major in political science so technically it's possible but as both James and Dawson has have highlighted. It's kind of your decision to make there are constraints you know you have to take certain set courses and please talk to academic advisor and academic advisor about the path to getting this done. There are very well rounded answers. So I don't have any more questions in the chat. We do have nine minutes left of this session so if you do have any questions. No question is silly or anything like that if you're wondering somebody else probably is to. So I will ask one more question. While we wait for any more answers and then if we have none that will be the end of our session. I hear a lot coming from first year students. What is the difference between a lecture tutorial and discussion class. I can just touch on that quickly. So a lecture is usually two hours or three hours and that's basically you sitting in a lecture hall probably what you've imagined if you've seen movies or shows about university it's anywhere between 100 and 400 people. And you'll have a professor or a contract instructor speaking at the front of the lecture hall and it's there like you can't use a better word they're lecturing you they're telling you this is the information you need to take down and they're. Most processor if they're effective they'll ensure that they're getting the message across by doing knowledge checks or people will ask questions and they'll effectively answer them but they're not necessarily. They won't necessarily do that they're given a job of conveying this information and it's on you to take that down. So that's a lecture and then a tutorial and discussion group or at least in my opinion kind of the same thing where it's you and anywhere between seven or eight and 20 people sitting in a smaller room discussing what you've just learned at the lecture. So it's led by teaching assistant usually where these people are hired to actually ensure that you understand what's just been told to you that's that's their job. And this is your opportunity to kind of ask more detailed questions or kind of insight meaningful discussion about the course content. Really even think of a good question ask that's not an issue because teaching assistant will definitely ask if they're trying to make sure that all these 20 people their questions that they're not even really necessarily asking are covered. So yeah I would say those are the two differences between a lecture and a discussion group tutorial James did you want to touch on that too. Yeah, the only thing that I would add for sure is that in your well the teaching assistants are going to ensure that you're engaging with the material in a meaningful manner. But you're also the teaching assistants are going to be the ones that are going to be for the most part evaluating your work. Right, it's not going to be the prof that's going to be marking 400 papers. So it's a really great opportunity to, especially in first year where writing is a massive change from writing in high school it's really going to help you develop your ideas, develop great arguments, really connect with the people that are going to be giving you marks and helping you develop as a learner so overall I find the tutorials and the discussion groups incredibly helpful. I probably learn the same amount if not more in discussion groups and tutorials. They're great so take every opportunity all the TAs are super nice. Take the opportunity to connect with the TAs and if you're willing to, to endeavor to meet them and to get to know them, they're willing to help you be successful so it's a great opportunity to, to really develop yourself. Okay, thanks again. So we did have a couple questions come in the chat. So the first one is from a man, pardon me if I pronounce any of your names wrong, I apologize. If I'm struggling in any of the course service, will it be easy to reach a mentor slash teacher assistant later on for extra help. Yeah, I would say that's, it's relatively easy to reach them usually in the course syllabus if you're struggling with something then you can look at the syllabus and you'll find either the profs email or the teaching assistants emails as well. And you can reach out to them and say, hey, you know, I'm, I'm struggling with X, Y and Z. Could you point me to a resource that might help me better understand and if it's not sitting down with a teaching assistant, then they'll point you in the direction of something that will help your understanding And further, there's actually for select courses that are particularly difficult for first year students there's something called peer assisted study sessions I might have got that wrong. But basically, this is an additional group outside of your tutorial and your lecture that they will go over the material even further. And it's actually really helpful because usually it's provided for courses that are particularly difficult. So it's a super valuable resource you just meet. Maybe I think it's like an hour a week or something. And yeah, definitely take advantage of that. Yeah. As Austin mentioned, even some profs will give you maybe a one or 2% extra a few. I know in first year for sure if you show up to pass. Past sessions, I know I've had a couple courses where profs have given me one or 2% at the end of the term in first year for going to those. So, yeah, great sessions to get help if need be. Fantastic. Thank you again. So our next question is from Maddie with the library is closed for COVID. Will there be online resources to accommodate for this. The answer to that is yes, most of the very large proportion of our libraries collection is that is in fact available online. And so it's certainly you can certainly do that. Access most of the collection that way on top of that. They have another agreement with with a consortium of libraries to make materials that other libraries available to our students and faculty members so that would help on time. There will also be curbside service on campus that's going on right now, but right really you should be paying attention to what's available through the reserve. Part of the library that's where people who teach courses or course instructors will frequently put all of the materials that you need for their course. So we have been planning for this and the library has been putting a lot of material online and as a result of that. Thank you so much Dean Andre. So we do only have two minutes left so this will be our last question from Prince. Can I switch to an honors program at any point in time after my first year. So I don't know the exact answer to this but an academic advisor will and I think the dean also has a note. And so the answer is yes you can switch to an honors program it's easier to do if you do this earlier in your program because sometimes the structure of courses that you must take are different. From what is a general program or a 15 credit program to an honors program so the sooner you decide the better at some level. But as Stephanie indicated please as you're considering this, please talk to an academic advisor. Once you started your program. Thank you so much to both Dean Andre and Dawson and James. We had a wonderful chat this morning that was great, very insightful. I actually even learned a lot too and just being an employee. And I just wanted to say again thank you all for joining us this morning and I wish you the best of luck in your academic year. Great. Thank you everybody. Thanks for thanks for being here and thanks to James and Dawson. Have a good day.