‘A great experience:’ UTM convocation ambassador records celebratory message for fall Class of 2020
With virtual convocations a fact of life this fall, one of the ways the University of Toronto is personalizing the ceremonies is through filmed welcome and congratulatory messages from student convocation ambassadors representing the larger student body.
There is a convocation ambassador from each U of T campus. Mahera Islam stepped in for U of T Mississauga.
“Someone else was initially chosen to represent UTM but had to pull out at the last minute,” Islam says. “Principal (Alexandra) Gillespie knew me from a research project I’d done and asked me to step in.”
Islam will graduate in the spring with a BA in English and a minor in philosophy.
“Because of COVID-19, I may not have a physical graduation ceremony myself, so I was pleased to have this small occasion,” says Islam, who recently participated in film shoots to record congratulatory messages. “I dressed as if it were my own convocation, with high heels and make-up, and I got to wear a gown.”
One of the film shoots took place on the St. George campus and brought together the ambassadors from all three campuses. The second message, targeted toward UTM students, was filmed with Vice-President and Principal Alexandra Gillespie outside Lislehurst, her official residence.
“It was wonderful to see other students and to be back on campus,” Islam says. “I haven’t been there since March. I’d also never been in front of a film camera before or been directed, so it was a great experience.”
Islam says there are undoubtedly benefits to remote learning, but she misses the face-to-face interactions and class discussions.
“Upper-year English courses are discussion-heavy, and that’s much better in-person,” she says.
After her own spring convocation, Islam hopes to get some work experience under her belt, possibly as a writer, before considering graduate school.
Her resume looks attractive. Islam writes for the UTM newspaper, The Medium, doing film reviews and film-related reporting. The research project that first brought her to the principal’s attention was an exciting one for an undergraduate: she, three fellow students and a professor edited and annotated the first edition of a Nigerian play based on one of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, The Miller’s Tale. The playwright and an acting troupe from Nigeria performed the work at both the St. George and UTM campuses.
However, Islam’s focus for the moment is on her coursework so she can earn the right to walk across the stage in Convocation Hall, virtually or in person.
U of T’s Fall Convocation 2020 ceremony will be presented virtually via video on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 12:00 p.m. EST.