By: Corbett Gildersleve, Opinions Editor
Who am I? I’m old. I was a mature student when I started my first degree. My journey has taken many turns since starting at SFU in the mid 2000s when I worked as a security guard and later as a service clerk at the Vancouver campus. In early 2009, I started through the SFU-Zhejiang University dual degree program, spending two years studying computing science in China. It wasn’t easy: I was studying in another language and was 10 years older than my classmates. I struggled with completing my degree because I realized very late that it was the wrong program for me. But, I felt I was too far along to change or drop it. I crawled over the finish line in 2017 and crossed the stage that summer. For me, life and personal growth have never been linear or easy.
Being a mature student has its ups and downs. It was always funny walking into class and everyone thought you were the professor or teaching assistant. But, your pop culture references are dated, and there’s so much new slang to learn. I still don’t fully understand what “based” means. It’s probably why I often got along better with my instructors than my classmates, at least for the first few years. However, being a “mature” student has its perks: I bring knowledge, life experience, and history to my classes. I am able to distinguish between what I want and don’t want and I find myself being more in charge of my life choices.
The real question that everyone should ask themselves is whether their educational path serves them in a way that fits their goals. Sometimes even when there is something that you believe is a strong fit for your future, it doesn’t mean it’s actually your passion. So, what do you do? You shift direction and apply what you learned. When looking back at my first degree, I really enjoyed classes that revolved around design, be it graphic design, software, or UI. I loved reorganizing the Computing Science Student Society that I was the president of in 2014. When I served on the Board of the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) in 2015, and we changed the governance structure and policies, I realized there was a strong overlap between software and policy design. Both are about creating rules, processes, and structure to solve a real-world problem, but just in different domains. It was also during that time I realized I wanted to work on “people” issues instead of computer ones. So, in 2018, I enrolled in the post-baccalaureate diploma program in social policy through the sociology and anthropology department.
The SFSS is full of “people” issues to solve, and my knowledge were useful in helping the Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group, CJSF Radio, and the Students of Caribbean and African Ancestry during the student space campaign in 2019. Working with these student groups helped me understand collective strategizing and decisionmaking. Computing science trained me to see part of the SFSS as a system of rules, bylaws, and policies that could be broken down, analysed, and fixed. A few successful election campaigns later, and I was serving with my team as an executive in the SFSS. I’m proud of the changes we made in and outside the SFSS, but it came with a cost. I paused my diploma program after 2022 and have struggled to maintain a full-time job due to lingering mental health impacts from my time as an executive.
All of this to say that one doesn’t need to linger where they don’t find themselves motivated. Yes, life is hard — and we have bills to pay — but there is a merit in pursuing a life that is your own. Pave a path for yourself. This path doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s.
Why did I come back? I wanted to finish my program but I’ve been struggling academically to the point that it’s hard to know if I’ll be able to complete it. I’m exploring options through the Centre of Accessible Learning, and from what I’ve read, the experience is not always positive. But, I’m not giving up because as I’ve said, life and personal growth are not linear or easy.
