Hello everyone and welcome to a new school year at OISE!
My name is Ana Luiza Lacerda and I'm a PhD student in Curriculum & Pedagogy, a program at the Curriculum, Teaching and Learning (CTL) department at OISE. I'm also in a collaborative specialization at the Comparative, International and Development Education Center (CIDEC) and this year I'll be one of your OISE Student Ambassadors.
This Fall I'm starting my second year of PhD. I'm taking two amazing courses both at my home department, CTL, and at the Social Justice Education (SJE) department. My classes are online and synchronous with my optimistic self hoping for in-person classes in winter, when I'll continue my full-year SJE course and will take my methodology course.
Before we start digging into all these acronyms, here are some interesting facts about me:
1) I'm a Brazilian immigrant in Toronto (a domestic student who knows the struggles of international students lol) and I've been here for only 13 months! First time I set foot inside OISE was a few weeks ago but right after quarantine when I arrived I went everywhere else outside. Here's me proud and happy at my dream school last year.
2) Both of my parents are university professors, so I grew up running around various universities' campuses around the world and I can say that none of them were as beautiful as UofT St. George. I mean, have you seen Hart House and Victoria College? Is that Hogwarts or what?
3) From the last one you can guess I'm a major Harry Potter fan. I'm a Ravenclaw, by the way. Besides reading YA novels and other books - any kind really - , I love walking in Toronto's parks, eating food from all around the world (easy even on campus), building Legos, cooking and swimming. Here are my last reads:
4) Lastly, it hasn't been the easiest year for sure, but I have found at OISE so many nice, welcoming people from all around the world and with so many different stories and backgrounds that this year has felt much less lonely. Best part of my grad experience for sure is learning from all these amazing, different people. Here's some of us at our zoom Halloween last year:
I hope I get to meet all of you readers at OISE's corridors soon and, for now, stay tuned for my next post when we'll start dissecting OISE's and UofT's various acronyms! And if you are a future student, be sure to attend OISE's Open House on October 16!
See you there!