Not only is this week’s McGill Campus Celebrity one of the hardest working people on campus, she is one the funniest and kindest people I have ever met! Hailing from Venezuela, Elizabeth Rondon has lived in many different places around the world but now calls Montreal her home. She dedicates her time to working with charitable organizations like CASCO, but also with things we love like Frosh and Carnival. Definitely a familiar face around campus, we can all thank Liz for working behind the scenes to make sure we all enjoy these wonderful events.
Name: Elizabeth Rondon
Hometown(s): Venezuela, Fort McMurray and now Calgary, AB
Major/minor: Marketing and Theatre & Drama Studies (English)
Year: U3
Can you tell us about your involvement here at McGill?
Well, I’ve been involved in CASCO (The Commerce and Administration Student Charity Organization) every year now, working on the sponsorship team. This year however, I have a larger role as co-executive director, which means that I – along with one other person – am in charge of a committee of twenty three people who all have different jobs. We work together over the fall semester to put on a dance and fashion show, which is taking place this November 16th all to raise money to support The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation. We also hosted a hype party for CASCO that took place on September 29th at Arena to get people excited about the event in November. The apartment crawl coming up in a couple weeks on October 20th is to do the same thing! People donate their apartments and teams visit each place where different games take place – we’ve decorated each apartment as a different city to go along with our Miami to Ibiza theme! I also worked together on a team last year to plan MUS Pirate Frosh. It was a very big responsibility, but I learned a lot from it and got to work with some great people! And this year is also my first year being on Carnival Committee, which I am really looking forward to because it is not so much a leadership position as it deals more with the nitty gritty of carnival.
How was planning Frosh different from planning CASCO?
Frosh had a smaller team to lead (not including the leaders). It was over the summer with no schoolwork to do on top of all of that! It was much more chill – but I learned a lot from frosh that I can put into CASCO that makes things easier for me. For example, working with JP (he was co-chair of Frosh the previous year) was helpful because he knew the ins and outs… so it was good for me to develop my skills to apply to life now.
What was the first thing you got involved with?
I was on the sponsorship team for CASCO. It all comes full circle.
What is your favourite place at McGill?
Bronfman. Arts W-25 a close second
What made you choose to come to McGill?
Well, I applied to many schools – like seven – because I lived in Fort McMurray at the time so I knew I had to move out somewhere. I applied to McGill because my dad had told me it was a really good school… so I said why not? I applied to Toronto and Calgary and all those schools, but then, after a while, I was set on going to UBC. I was all ready to go… but then I got the letter from McGill saying I had been picked out of thousands of people from around the world and it really struck a chord with me. Of course my mom said I might have been #999 out of 1000 but I was ok with that. So I was set… all thanks to that convincing letter from Desautels. I came here without touring the school at all – the first move in weekend was the first time I set foot in the province of Quebec.
What are your hobbies and interests outside of school?
YouTube videos, TLC, cooking, music
(Fun fact: Liz has over 5000 songs on ITunes! Which was narrowed down from around 11000!!)
Who is your role model?
My parents. They worked very hard to get us to this country, despite all the troubles happening in Venezuela. We heard about all these issues because of the news but it didn’t affect our way of living. Like, my father lost his job but they still managed to keep a living for our family. So they sacrificed a lot for my brother and I. I can only hope to do the same! They’re cool peeps… I like them… I think I’ll keep them.
What was it like moving around so much when you were young?
I just went with the flow. I was never really that upset about moving away – not that I was happy, but life went on and it was either move to a new place and be miserable, even though you’re stuck there, or move to new place and make the most out of it! Why be all sad when you have to be there?! In the end, I think it has made me a better person because I have become more well-rounded; I know a little bit about everything. I am Latina and that is my culture, but living in California (before moving to Canada) and now living here you meet a lot of people from different places… so they obviously influence the way I lead my life.
So would you describe yourself as an international person?
Yes. BUT I like to take the best parts of my culture and fuse it with the best parts of this culture and my friends’ culture to make one big mixture. Let’s call it an amalgamation of just crazy.
Are you pleased with your accomplishments here at school after 4 years?
YES – I hope to have made some sort of difference… even if it’s just a little bit. If it’s that one Froshie that had a great time, or that one person that went to CASCO only this year – it all makes a difference.
What kind of impact have your peers at McGill had on you?
I would say a big one. It was fun to come here but, like I said, it was also my first time here in Montreal so it was very terrifying… and knowing that all these people are so smart and all these people are so accomplished, I was like how can I possibly even live up to that?! There was a lot of pressure… but then I decided that I am going to just do me right now…
(And then we started singing Drake lyrics)