First 48 Hours: Documentary spotlights the journey of international students

The first few days of a new school year can be as frantic as they are exciting – but for several international students at the UUֱ��, there was an extra wrinkle: a new country.

The students are featured in a 22-minute documentary called International Students: First 48 Hours in Canada, which is directed by Cal Campos and was shot at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year.

It uses a combination of the students’ own footage and sit-down interviews to provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the excitement of packing, traveling and finally setting foot on each of UUֱ��’s three campuses.

Obinna Ezeani (supplied image)

Obinna Ezeani, who is featured in the film and spent 17 hours traveling from Lagos to Toronto, says he is thrilled to see the final product come to life.

“It’s an opportunity to relive those moments and memories from a year ago and remind myself why I embarked on this journey,” says Ezeani, who is working on a master’s degree in health informatics and recalls his first few days in Canada as “exciting.”

A joint partnership between UUֱ��’s Centre for International Experience and the Innovation Hub in the division of Student Life, the documentary is being screened across the three campuses in October and November – with the first screening scheduled at UUֱ�� Scarborough this week.

It will later be available for streaming on YouTube.

Julia Allworth, the Innovation Hub’s manager of innovation projects, says the goal of the project was to shine a light on the multitude of diverse global perspectives that make up nearly a third of the university’s student body.

“We wanted to zoom in on what it’s like for students when they first arrive in Canada. What challenges do they face as they step off the plane and into Canada? What decisions do they need to make along the way?” says Allworth.

“International students bring tremendous value to the university.”

The biggest challenge, according to Campos, was figuring out how to show the diversity and complexity of student life at UUֱ�� in just 22 minutes.

Jo Antonia Sepulveda Guzman (supplied image)

“The beauty of documentary is you think it’s going to go in one direction, and then it goes a totally different way,” says Campos, who was selected to helm the project for their thoughtful approach to equity and diversity.

Jo Antonia Sepulveda Guzman, who is from Chile and is working on a bachelor’s degree in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, says she is looking forward to sharing the doc with her family.

“[They were] so excited when I told them I would be doing the 48 hours project,” she says. “My sister started giving me tips on how to record and took me to change my phone screen protector so that the camera was not blurry. My mom is expecting to cry.”

Sepulveda is nostalgic about the experience.

“The person I was then is completely different from the person I am today. I worked so hard to come here. Remembering the beginning will be emotional for me.”

Shraddha Prasad, associate director, international student experience and global fluency at the Centre for International Experience, says she couldn’t be prouder of the year-long project, which received support from UUֱ��’s International Student Experience Fund.

“International students have such impact in the UUֱ�� community through the perspectives they bring to the university through their lived experiences and their cultural backgrounds,” she says, noting that funding is already underway for a second film project titled International Students: Life After Graduation.

“Being able to elevate these stories has been a huge highlight for us.”

Inaugural AcceleratorFest aims to inspire budding entrepreneurs at UUֱ��

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 19:17:46 +0000

Inaugural AcceleratorFest aims to inspire budding entrepreneurs at UUֱ��

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 09/13/2024 - 15:17

Cutline

The inaugural AcceleratorFest, organized by UUֱ�� Entrepreneurship, will include a startup showcase, panel discussion and tours of the ONRamp co-working and collaboration space (photo by Alyssa K Faoro)

Topic

Our Community

Entrepreneurship Week

Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus

UUֱ�� Entrepreneurship

ONRamp

Subheadline

“With students back on campus, this is an opportunity to expose the internal entrepreneurial ecosystem to all the different accelerator programs we have at the university”

The new school year is typically associated with lectures, textbooks and study groups – but at the UUֱ��, students are also encouraged to think about how all that knowledge can be wielded to start game-changing companies that address important challenges, create jobs and foster innovation.

That’s one of the goals behind the inaugural AcceleratorFest, which takes place Sept. 18 at the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus.

Organized by UUֱ�� Entrepreneurship – which is ranked among the top five university business incubators in the world – AcceleratorFest offers a handy introduction to UUֱ��’s thriving entrepreneurship scene.

“With students back on campus, this is an opportunity to expose the internal entrepreneurial ecosystem to all the different accelerator programs we have at the university,” says Jon French, director of UUֱ�� Entrepreneurship.

There are 12 campus-linked accelerators across the tri-campus, and the number of startups emerging from them continues to balloon – in 2019, UUֱ�� supported 380 entrepreneurial teams; last year, that number rose to nearly 1,000.

“This is one of the rare opportunities where we can bring staff, alumni, accelerator leads and companies to talk to the next generation of up-and-coming entrepreneurs about resources and tools and the different accelerators in a classic UUֱ�� way,” French says.

AcceleratorFest features three key elements.

In classic trade show fashion, booths will be set up for attendees to chat informally with entrepreneurs about their startups.

Later in the afternoon, attendees can hear from Zain Zaidi, CEO of document verification and management startup Transcrypts, and Catherine Chan, founding CEO of clinical trials startup Honeybee (which was recently acquired by global clinical trials firm Leapcure), at the Desjardins Speaker Series.

Finally, an open house on the seventh floor of the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus will invite visitors to check out ONRamp, a co-working and collaboration space for UUֱ��’s entrepreneurship community.

(photo by David Lee)

Registration to AcceleratorFest includes a raffle ticket, with potential to win some unique swag (think a MOTUS UUֱ�� hoodie or Nanoleaf smart bulb) and a ticket to one of the tech industry’s premier events, Elevate Festival.

French says he encourages everyone in the UUֱ�� community to check out the event, noting UUֱ�� Entrepreneurship has a “no-wrong-door philosophy” – no matter what you’re studying or where you are in your entrepreneurial journey, “there's a door that you can open in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and there are people and alumni and resources that can support you.”

AcceleratorFest is the first of several exciting entrepreneurship events on the calendar for the upcoming academic year. A key date to watch out for: Oct. 15, which is when applications for the Desjardins Startup Prize will open for companies vying to win $100,000 in non-dilutive funding.

The prize is one of the highlights of the annual UUֱ�� Entrepreneurship Week, which will take place March 3-7.

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Adam Elliott Segal