Samantha Knapp

Bachelor of Arts, Criminology, 2nd Year

Course: CSL 100 (Fall 2020) with Instructor Jay Friesen

Who was your community partner and can you describe the project objectives? 

I worked with the Gradual Rising of Women (GROW) to research and write blog posts on the topic of Civic Engagement and Personal Development for women to increase their employability and career pathways.

What was your biggest takeaway from your CSL placement? 

The biggest takeaway from my CSL placement was noticing that there are ways to transfer your knowledge outside of the classroom and into real-life scenarios. Being able to take the content we learned in CSL and other classes and see how it operated in the real world was a great opportunity and doesn’t come around often. 

How can you apply any newly gained knowledge/skills to your future endeavours (courses/employment/volunteering)?

My CSL placement allowed me to gain a great deal of knowledge that I can use in my future career. Since I had to conduct interviews, it taught me how to communicate effectively and it also taught me effective time management skills. As well, in these interviews I had to ensure I was being extremely professional which is essential in my future career and endeavours. Carrying these skills of time management, effective communication, and professionalism will be greatly beneficial in my other classes and after graduation. 

What are some of the ways that COVID-19 has affected your community partner or your placement?

Even with the COVID-19 pandemic, I was still able to work effectively with my community partner because it was already online. Creating the blog posts and conducting the interviews were all very manageable in an online format. Conducting interviews in an online format was an adjustment at first, but I eventually did adapt to it. It gave me the opportunity to create meaningful connections with individuals during the interviews even with all the craziness in the world.