McGill is committed to giving every student an opportunity to gain hands-on experience and develop the skills they will need for an ever-evolving future.
Through funding for internships, field studies, conference and research participation, and the office networks that make it all possible, donors are providing students with access to life-changing experiential learning opportunities. Every year, with your help, hundreds of students across every program of study get active with their learning — and take their education to the next level.
Malick Abdoulaye Issa has completed his final year in the Faculty of Arts, where he majored in economics, with a minor in philosophy. With support from the Archie Malloch Undergraduate Internship Award in Public Learning, he worked as a summer intern at Atelier Céladon, a Montreal-based organization that helps emerging visual artists.
“From seeing aspects of the curatorial side, to learning how exhibitions are organized internally, to meeting artists at events, my internship gave me new skills and helped me improve on others," he says. "A highlight was getting to be part of the Toronto Art Book Fair, where we showcased publications, zines and other works by Atelier Céladon members, and interacted with people from across North America who are engaged in the arts and artistic publishing.”
Maïthéna Girault, LMus'17, GrDip'18, is the 2018 winner of the Golden Violin Award. Thanks to support from the Ann and Barrie Birks Travel Award, she was able to perform in the 2017 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition – the largest and most prestigious event of its kind in the world.
Performing as the Milton Quartet, Girault and three other Schulich students won top honours, taking home both the Grand Prize and Senior String Division Gold Medal.
“For a young performer like me, competitions like Fischoff are the perfect goal to strive towards," she explains. "I found myself happiest, most inspired, and most motivated when working on making my own vision come to life onstage. And you get to hear and meet so many fantastic musicians – there is something to learn from every performer and even more to get inspiration from.”
Helen Lin B'Eng'19, a Chemical Engineering grad, was one of seven McGill Engineering students who attended the University Scholars Leadership Symposium, hosted by the United Nations in Bangkok, Thailand. Her trip was made possible by the Faculty’s donor-supported Student Initiative Fund, part of its Empower program.
“In Bangkok, I had the chance to learn from the world’s greatest leaders and to feel once again like passion is enough to create tangible, sustainable and meaningful change – both within and outside of the McGill Engineering community," says Lin. "Experiences like this are life-changing, and it was such a privilege to be able to attend.”
Christopher Patterson, a first-year Bioresource Engineering student, received funding through the Bieler Family Internship Program to work with the Astrobiology Training in Lava Tubes program (ATiLT) at the Lava Beds National Monument in the Mojave Desert. Most of his time was spent cataloguing potential landing sites for a mission to Mars.
“If we keep up the current pace of technological development and sustain public interest in spaceflight, we may soon be able to look up at the moon and see lights from our colonies shining back down on us. I am excited to be a part of that.”