Highlights

Social Work Students Shine in Dubai — Spring 2008

Someone once said, "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

Arriving home from a whirlwind trip to the Dubai after attending the Women as Global Leaders Conference this past March, a group of Mount Royal students have proved that this saying once said - still goes.

In their case, that single step to get to the Middle East was taken by the students themselves. Five inspired young ladies from the Mount Royal Social Work program - Krista Andrews, Amanda Reid, Jennifer Scott-Munoz, Sheena Taylor and Irene Thompson - were given the idea by instructor, Yasmin Dean, who a year and half ago asked her students if there was any interest in attending this prestigious international conference.

To her delight, the girls who showed interest in those beginning stages, was the exact group who jumped over many hurdles to pursue the trip to Dubai — a life-changing experience - as it has been described.

During their ten days there, the girls attended the conference, an event that focuses on women's emergent and current leadership roles across the globe.

"It was absolutely amazing, over-the-top, phenomenal," describes Thompson at the post-trip presentation, where it's clear she is still buzzing about the experience.

Simply she explains, "It was wow!"

Perhaps it's because the Mount Royal group presented at the conference among a line up of extremely motivational women, which included the likes of Jane Fonda and even Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson.

Or maybe it was because they befriended five local female students from Zayed University in Adu Dhabi,who they collaborated with over the weeks leading up to the event, using videoconferencing and the Blackboard site, producing one presentation between the two groups.

Once they finally met in-person, the ten girls connected with one another so well, they have since kept in touch via Facebook.

"Working with the girls from Abu Dhabi was the most amazing part of the trip. We were pretty much more the same than different," says Thompson regarding the similarities between Canadian and Emirate women.

Scott-Munoz points out there were, however, some small differences between them.

"They seemed very progressive and educated but then they had to go and get written permission to go to the conference (from their parents.) Just that paradox was really interesting to me."

At the student's presentation about their trip, the ladies showed off their newfound Arabic speaking skills, where it was obvious the whole group was changed by the journey.

"No more waiting around for things to happen," concludes Taylor, explaining this trip inspired her to plan a future visit to Ghana in hopes of volunteering with African children following her graduation.

The group has already started thinking about making the next conference, held again in 2010.

Photo: Mount Royal students Krista Andrews, Jennifer Scott-Munoz and Irene Thompson (top row); Sheena Taylor and Amanda Reid (bottom row) pose with the Zayed University students in Dubai.

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