Julia Knudsen

Bachelor of Science, Human Ecology, Family Sciences major, 3rd year

Course: HECOL 301 (Fall 2022) with Instructor Deanna Williamson

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

I worked alongside the Africans & African Descendent Friendship Club of St. Albert (AADFC), working toward creating a volunteer onboarding program to introduce new and returning volunteers to the organization's culture, values, and processes. Objectives included creating a guiding framework for AADFC to educate newcomers to the organization, with programs catered for annual events.

What was your biggest takeaway from your CSL placement? 

The biggest takeaway was the magnitude of hard work that event planning and organization take. Working so closely with the founders of this organization, it was impossible to ignore the joy of putting all their effort into spreading their culture with their community and celebrating with a network of people from surrounding areas.

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

This experience was highly valuable for my education but also taught me many aspects of being a community member. I will employ the knowledge gained from this experience to become an active community member and create a network of people who feel celebrated. In addition, I will always take the practical knowledge of program planning with me and use it in all facets of life. Until this course and working within the community, I neglected to realize that we interact with programs every day, and how they are structured is integral to the success of our society.