Alumni Spotlight Series: Wendy Zhang 2020
Wendy is a CityLAB SIR 2020 alum, the previous Communications and Events Assistant team member and now taking her Masters in Occupational Therapy at University of Toronto. Read more about how CityLAB has uniquely shaped Wendy's interests and aspirations within accessible and inclusive design and more!
Tell us about your studies at McMaster and how you were involved with CityLAB?
I did my undergrad at Mac in Health Sciences, a program that gives you a lot of leeway and elective space. I decided in third year to do CityLAB Semester in Residence and completed a minor in Community Engagement, since it had fulfilled most of the credits. My experience with CityLAB was great. It really supplemented the more biological aspects of my undergrad and taught me a little bit more about the people skills required to be an effective member of society and a health care practitioner. It was really interesting to learn more about the neighborhoods of Hamilton, the city and the kind of structures that we live within. The focus of the project I worked on was sustainability and climate resiliency, which we worked on with a member of City staff. The Climate Change Resiliency Project included understanding climate change mitigation strategies, what other cities' climate resiliency plans were, and sustainability policy from a broad level. I worked with a group of wonderful students and we became very close friends despite this being the first semester of online SIR.
What are you up to now? Post-graduation life
This year I began my masters in occupational therapy. I chose this career because it was one of the most holistic kinds of health care and it's very patient centered. You are treating the patient in the context of their everyday life, taking into consideration how their environment affects health and wellbeing. In this field I will encounter a bit of everything, which I appreciate as a big picture person. I think CityLAB has prepared me well, in that it's taught me about how to see things in context and create relationships that value the autonomy of others. CityLAB taught me how to work in a team of people with different backgrounds and strengths. CityLAB group work taught us to harness each other's strengths, ask for help and give feedback, all crucial aspects of working in health care as well. Analyzing the design of how a city is built and how people interact with their spaces is another aspect of CityLAB that is relevant to occupational therapy.
Do you have any long term goals that have been positively impacted by your time as a SIR?
The year after I completed Semester in Residence, I was hired as CityLAB's new communications and events assistant. This was a good fit for me as I did a lot of graphic design throughout university and I like thinking about problems both visually and functionally. I worked at CityLAB part-time during the school year and then full-time in the summer. I had a great experience. What a supportive team!
One specific area that impacted my future goals was learning from Kristen Mommertz, a sustainability manager at Mohawk College about how to create accessible digital media. She did a lot of coaching and guiding us on how to make our digital content more accessible. This has ignited ambitions to work on designing accessible systems and technology in the future.
I appreciate the design thinking we learn in CityLAB, understanding the context and the importance of viewing it from a lens of inclusivity, sustainability and equity. For example, there are certain areas of Hamilton that don't have a lot of street trees, community gardens or green resources which are often the same places that are marginalized. It's important to engage the community and hear from those whose voices are often left out in designing projects. I am very interested in both public policy and consulting as well. I don't know yet, but there are many pieces of my CityLAB experience that are very relevant.
Any words of advice for students thinking about applying to SIR?
I would say, keep an open mind about what you're going to learn and I'm sure some part of it will be relevant to what you want to be doing. You will learn things and make connections that are relevant to your future goals or you will be inspired in new and unforeseen ways! There will be lots of new skills you will pick up, so don't pigeonhole yourself into thinking you have to do something that's directly relevant to you. If you don't know how it will fit in, talk to your faculty advisor about it. Just do it! Just apply!