Building Impactful Connections Through the Graduate Community of Practice

The Graduate Community of Practice has been life changing to me especially in my approach of community involvement and scholarship.  It created a space of common purpose and sharing community engagement experiences which were so educative to me.  The graduate community of practice not only expanded my knowledge in community practice, but it also opened me to opportunities for great impact in my practice. A place where theory translated to practice in meaningful ways to me.

Through my time at the Grad CoP, I have learned how my research work can be of impact and learned the skill of developing meaningful collaborations to increase impact in the work that I am involved in.  It is easy to ignore to write research for academic audience but forget to write it for the understanding of the non-academic audiences.  This was a great eye opener and has completely changed my approach in how to approach scholarship and research for the different audiences.

Grad CoP gave me an opportunity to share experiences and to take part in leading sessions which did not only let me learn from the community members but also learn within myself. It provided a place of self-reflection and realization of my potential as we met in the different sessions. 

The connections I have made through the Grad CoP stands out for me. These connections have helped me to realize how I can diversify my work in ways that I never thought before.  For instance, as I have worked with secondary school girls for their menstrual hygiene, there is an opportunity to partner with education institutions to support their education endeavors and helping them laying a strong foundation for social and economic empowerment as they face the future.

The design of the Grad CoP where members were able to contribute towards what we desire to learn contributed to the positive/learning rich for me.  No topic was imposed on us, but we learned what we desired to grow in.