Meet our Early Support Team

Ashley De Vera Macayan

Student Support Specialist

Hi everyone! My name is Ashley DVM (she/they), I have a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a minor in Psychology. Through my University experience, I learned about the complexities of life and how nothing fits perfectly into neat boxes - and that's okay. It's about being curious, having an open mind, and being willing to explore what we don't know. It's about sitting in that discomfort and seeing what we can learn from that experience and then applying it in our lives. What I really enjoyed and found fulfilling is going through these experiences with others, and being a student is an environment and space where all this happens.

What I think is really interesting about education in general is that it should ideally be the perfect place to fail, to be able to take risks safely and then be able to learn and grow from them. With how complicated life is though, sometimes that margin of error to be able to take risks safely is a lot smaller or non-existent for some. For myself, post-secondary education was my only option to be able to support my family so I wasn’t allowed to “fail” or have “set-backs”, but being held to that standard is exhausting. In my approach to student support I aim to be able to take into account as many of the unique factors that have led you to this point. I hope to be able to provide you support where you feel heard, understood and that you have someone cheering you on behind the scenes.

I come from Distress Centre Calgary as the Senior Youth Program Coordinator for the ConnecTeen program where I supported youth in their volunteer journey. What that looked like is learning crisis intervention skills, applying them on the lines and building a community of care and connection with each other and the agency. So if you want to talk about all the ups and downs of student life, I'm your person. I hang out with my 3 dogs and 2 birds in my spare time while jumping between hobbies depending on my mood - #selfcare. I look forward to connecting and building a student support plan with you ~