Meet Vanessa D’Aquila, a first year student in the Ingram School of Nursing and also representative for her year. This lady has led an interesting life – as a long-term and hard-working employee of the clothing store Dynamite, she has been invited twice, and is now nominated for a third time to attend a Gala for the company’s top 10 best employees in Canada. The annual gala is an event the company organizes for employees who stand out for leadership skills and sales performance. During three days filled with activities, the employees get pampered with spas, lunches, outings and finally an extravagant dinner at the Gala with the president and CEO of the company.
Vanessa is equally engaged with life on campus, and is especially dedicated to representing other nursing students in her year. I sat down for an interview with this time-management expert to gain insight on how she juggles everything.
When asked about what had made her decide to run for Rep in the first place, she expressed that it was something she had been considering since the summer. In her high school years she had been involved in multiple clubs while, in contrast, CEGEP had mostly been about her studies. She revealed that participating in clubs was something that fulfilled her and that when she got accepted to McGill she didn’t want to be on the sidelines; she wanted to be more than just a student, she wanted to get involved.
As U1 rep for Nursing students, her duties include, but are not limited to: holding office hours in the Nursing Undergraduate Society office, attending council meetings held by older council members, organizing school events and extracurricular activities, transmitting information to her classmates and making sure their voices are heard.
I then questioned her about finding a balance between school, work, clubs and friends. She described that “the key is to write everything down. You don’t always remember everything you signed up for and you can’t be in two places at once. Even if you can’t be there, you have to know how to catch up and still be on top of things. I don’t take my responsibility lightly, I’m going in one hundred percent… if I have a break, I’ll have a coffee with a friend or even find time to study together. I find time to do important things like that. To me, it’s more about the communication aspect of a relationship. For the few minutes I can take for my friends, I will do it.”
As great as her position is, she admits that there’s also a drawback:
“The fear of failure. You don’t want to disappoint anyone. You want everyone to be satisfied with your work, but I recognize that it’s often impossible to please every single person.”
Having been unsure about joining clubs in the past, I asked her if she had any advice for people like me who were on edge about it.
“Just do it! I understand there are sometimes insecurities … I, for one, was about to rip up my speech moments before applying for class rep, I began doubting myself, but decided that it was what I always wanted ever since I heard about the position… In hindsight my life would’ve been so different had I not worked up the courage. It might not look like it would have changed much to others, but for me it really would have. When looking back on your life, you don’t want to have big regrets like that.”
In the future, this skilled multitasker plans on staying in the nursing council, volunteering more, and traveling the world.
So for all you lovely Collegiettes out there, don’t hold yourselves back from fear of being overwhelmed. You can do whatever your heart desires. According to Vanessa, taking a leap of faith and joining the nursing council was “the best decision I’ve ever made”.
Image obtained from: http://family-medicine.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/nursing-professio…
Image also provided by interviewee.