First year Camosun general arts student Arshnoor Kaur was elected as the new Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) wellness and access director in the CCSS fall elections, which took place from October 27 to 29.
As the name suggests, the position takes on a wide range of responsibilities, but for Kaur, much of her job currently focuses on making sure students are doing as well as they can be, given that most are learning from home, isolated from campus, and, like all of us, probably struggling to see when and how this pandemic will give way to a healthier normalcy. But don’t lose hope: that’s the mantra Kaur says, over and over again, to students. She is focusing on the struggles students face, not just with isolation and online learning, but possible lower grades because of those struggles, especially if you’re not technically inclined.
“It’s tough with online [learning], says Kaur. “I, myself, feel really tough with the online stuff I’m studying; I don’t get certain things, and I lose marks and a lot of things. There are so many problems.”
But as long as students are confident and willing enough to come to the CCSS with their learning challenges, there are always options, she says, even if what a student might need is help with getting up the confidence, because giving up is not an option.
“Don’t lose hope. If you think that you cannot do [assignments], contact your teachers. They are good teachers. They understand. They try to help… Things are improving. I have improved a lot; it is a situation where we cannot say that we will stop studying. The best way is to accept that we have to work this way, and try to learn, and don’t lose hope.”
Kaur is the wellness and access director for a simple reason: she wants to help students. At various times, and for various reasons, throughout her life, she has needed help, as we all do at some point in time, she says. But Kaur says that through helping others, you can also learn things about yourself.
“It’s interesting to know what other people go through when they study [and] what problems they get to tackle with their studies,” she says. “People are going through so many things. That, I think, is interesting for me.”
Isolation can bring certain things into focus, and one of the things that Kaur has learned is the role that previously forgotten aspects of campus life played in her well-being.
“People around you—they’re just hanging around, they’re just eating, or moving around—I’ve learned what kind of role they had in my life,” she says. “That is something I know now. People around you, even if you’re not talking to them, they mean a lot. College life… That is something I miss a lot.”