We are absolutely thrilled to announce that the 2021 recipient of the Diane Fagel Support Staff Excellence Award is Jennifer McIlroy! This award is presented to a support staff member in recognition of their support to teaching and learning excellence at the College.
If you are a student or staff member on our campus, you will know Jennifer as the Coordinator of our Storyworks course, which she has wonderfully transformed over the years, as well as the lead of several other initiatives on campus.
Below, Jennifer shares her experience being nominated for the award, her thoughts when she won, and reflects on teaching at the School of Communications, Media, Arts, and Design (SCMAD).
Q. What was involved in the initial award process and what were your thoughts when you found out you won?
I was nominated by Pamela Kostur. Every nominee is invited, then, to accept the nomination. If you do accept, you are required to write a 5-700 word piece for evaluation and further selection. Then the selection committee chose 12 of the 42 nominations for a panel interview. The interview was tough! Then the nail-biting of 3 weeks waiting…to find out.
When I received the email, I saw the subject line: Result of the Diane Fagel Award selection process (or something like that). I didn’t open it right away because I knew I didn’t win. And I knew that because I didn’t hold a candle to the other nominees who show up to work every day and serve the students with unwavering dedication and they do so, anonymously. I felt undeserving next to my colleagues who ensure faculty, management and students don’t have to think about all the things that make the college hum beneath the books.
Then I opened it and couldn’t believe it. I’d never won anything so prestigious or meaningful in my life, and I was very, very moved. The panellists were all incredible, and I was overwhelmed to earn their esteem. The DF award is a high honour, and it was a moment of profound reflection on my travels at Centennial College, mixed into a moment of deep gratitude for my colleagues who taught me over many years just what serving students really means and why to be of that service is vital.
It took weeks, actually, for it to sink in. Not because I didn’t care, but because it’s a very big deal.
Q. What have been the highlights throughout your time at SCMAD?
I still remember the very first time I was on campus, and Barry Waite walked me through the courtyard after my first interview with him as a potential contract faculty member in 2012. And I remember the walk-by conversations about pretty much anything with Nate.
A generalized, collective memory is of all the time spent in the “Hall of Awesome” with Derek and Lisa, and David and MJ, and Kendra, and Pamela and Steve, and Joseph and Helen and Jeannette and Marianne and Sanjay and Debbie. All the stories, people, laughter, music, generosity of spirit and talent in that hallway have created the richest tapestry of experience ever.
I remember the first Storyworks presentation to a client that made me cry – for all the right reasons. It was tough, the client was big, and the students rose to an unbelievable occasion. Note I say first. Because there have been a few since.
A highlight remains of a student from 2016 designing my avatar, which is the image I use on Zoom these days.
There will never be anything more delightful than breaking out into mid 70’s classic rock tunes with Malcolm Kelly.
My posse knows who they are.
I wish I could list each memory of a student like Alexandra Few and the many others who allowed me to enter their lives and share what I knew, only to then give me far more in return. They were funny and quirky and open and brilliant and world-changers. Still are.
A favourite ever highlight was the day Carol, who worked the cash in the cafeteria, gave me her “very secret, Jennifer” very easy recipe for blueberry tea cake, including the trick for making the blueberries stay in the middle of the cake and not sink. It’s delicious.
It’s the varied conversations and relationships and successes and failures and misunderstandings and victories which could only happen at SCMAD that will resonate forever because I am blessed to be part of it all! I was once on the upper level, stopped, looking over and down at the piano where there was a breakout of spontaneous Cold Play with drums, singing, piano and guitar…I distinctly remember saying to myself, “How lucky am I that this is my office?”
Q. What do you want to say to faculty and staff that you’ve worked with at SCMAD?
I have never until now worked with a group of people whose strength is their kindness. Every one of you is magic. Thank you for supporting Storyworks, even when and if it was a confusing bungle or plain annoying at first. Thank you for inviting me to recover from corporate flu and heal with community spirit. No matter what, we carry on in faith with artistry. Thank you.
Q. Do you have advice for SCMAD students about to enrol in Storyworks or are about to embark on their careers after graduation?
Learning is hard. But that doesn’t make it wrong. Find the rightness of knowing that every new piece of information, every confusing lesson you encounter, every darn frustrating group project, and every unreasonable deadline makes you a bigger version of yourself. Daily. Don’t be average because you don’t want hard. If you don’t want hard, you don’t want to learn. Learn. Always learn. And don’t be rude. People remember that.
“I wish Joni Mitchell would write a song about my life at SCMAD. She could call it, Rectangle Game.”
Article by: Alexandra Few