Recently, SFU’s Human Resources Student Association (HRSA) kickstarted the STREAM program. Designed to help get Beedie students more involved with clubs in their faculty, STREAM is a series of workshops and a Canvas course that grants students a certificate from Beedie School of Business after completion.
Program Manager and fellow Her Campus SFU Writer, Sarah Saghah, shared that the goal with STREAM is “for students to learn new skills that will help them succeed in different Beedie club positions”, when I spoke with her at the event. “My goal for this event is to help students learn about the different opportunities available at Beedie and how they might be different to what some students think. Some students think that joining Beedie clubs is something cool to add onto your resume, but it’s also important to note what you can get out of business clubs as well,” she went on to share her own personal goal for the STREAM launch event.
Elaborating further, Sarah states “Our purpose is to bring students together in a fun, collaborative environment, where everyone can learn from each other. Overall, we want more students to succeed in their search for good volunteer experience, which is why we host business-topic training workshops, and workshops that help students with their applications and resumes.”
At the launch event, “Opportunities at Beedie and Establishing Goals”, I had the pleasure of listening to four club executives tell their stories on how they got involved within Beedie and how the audience could follow in their footsteps. The event ended with a workshop on the opportunities Beedie clubs have to offer, as well as on setting goals. If you’re planning on attending some STREAM events in the future, here is what you missed at the launch event!
Co-President of YWIB SFU Alice Joel, showcasing a passion for storytelling and community, opened with a discussion on moving towards the person you want to become. We wrote down five adjectives about ourselves (representative of who we are now), then five more adjectives that we would want others to use to describe us (representative of who we want to become). This second set of adjectives became the foundation for forming the goal we wanted to work towards. She followed up to describe her own journey to embody her dream adjective through her involvement. Through her own passion, she encouraged us to find the things we love doing and to pursue those through getting involved. She reminded us that as long as you believe you can do something, you can do whatever you wanted. All you need to do is get out there and get involved in some small way.
“One thing I want students to learn is to, number one, realize that they are worth something and that they have something of value to add to others. I want them to be able to find that passion and to do things not because they feel pressured or they feel like they have to get involved. I want them to feel that genuine curiosity, and feel that willingness to learn.” -Alice Joel (@helloalicejoel) on what she hoped the takeaway from her segment would be.
Vice president of Internal Relations for the SFU Student Marketing Association, Jasdeep Gill, followed Joel in talking about her experience getting involved. Accomplished in her involvement, Gill’s secret lies in making connections with peers that can later become mentors. Her connections with mentors in her first year led her to where she is now. She emphasized the value being involved within a club can have–club involvement separates you from others on a resume, and 70% of CEOs were once club executives. During question period, she told the audience her best advice in getting involved would be having good time management and finding mentorship.
“Surround yourself with people who are kind of doing bigger and better things than you [and] use them as an inspiration, as a mentor. A lot of times I feel like it’s people that you surround yourself with that you become most like. If you surround yourself with people who are doing better than you, who are more motivated than you, then that becomes your norm and that becomes something you will eventually achieve as well.” -Jasdeep Gill (@_jasdeepgill) on the biggest message of her talk.
After a short break (with free snacks!), Ashley Fox opened the second half discussing the underestimated impact the little things can have. She emphasized stepping out of your comfort zone and getting involved even if you have no one to get involved with. She talked about the difference being yourself makes and encouraged exploration of all sorts of new opportunities so you can get to know more about who you are! What you like, how much you can handle, etc. Another big emphasis was the setting of SMART goals, with extra attention on them being specific. With three exec positions just in her first year, it was clear her tips for getting involved were something to take close notes on.
“The small things matter and doing little things from setting goals to just going out of your comfort zone like going to an event by yourself – those little things can become a ripple effect to make you really stand out from the crowd and get all these different experiences.” -Ashley Fox (@afox97) on what she wanted the audience to get from her talk.
The talks ended with Wendy Chen, Beedie ambassador and BASS Frosh Chair. Chen made her focus on stepping out of your comfort zone and maximizing your involvement experience. She outlined three key things for making the best of your involvement (bringing your passion and curiosity, treating your involvement like a job, and being a team player) and touched on additional subjects including how one opportunity can lead to many, the importance of networking, and the role clubs can play in helping you discover your passion. Chen reminded us to take everything as a learning experience, that way you will always gain something even if you fail. This appeared to be a common theme as similar ideas around failure being an unavoidable (but positive) thing were addressed by the three other speakers as well.
“Ultimately, I want everyone to understand that they should be confident in themselves and shouldn’t let something small hold them back or think that they’re not qualified enough because everyone is qualified enough as long as they have the confidence and passion towards wanting to achieve that, they can definitely do that.” -Wendy Chen (@itswendytoday) on what the main takeaway of her segment was.
The STREAM program, I think, is an incredibly exciting opportunity for Beedie students of any year and is certainly something to be taken advantage of. With STREAM, you can expect to learn about club opportunities, application processes, and personal goal alignment. And while you’re doing it, you can get to know your peers and make some new friends! What could be better than that?
Be sure to visit the HRSA website if you’re interested!