I will never forget my first co-op work term I completed as part of my public relations degree at Mount Saint Vincent University.
I was hired on at Bell Canada in Calgary, Alberta in the summer of 2005. I was ecstatic about the opportunity for a number of reasons. The job gave me a chance to gain valuable hands-on experience in the field at a well-recognized corporation in Canada. I got a chance to visit Western Canada for the first time in my life. I was able to soak up the Stampede experience in Calgary.
I worked at Bell as an Internal Communications Coordinator. I’m not going to lie, I was very nervous about my first work experience. When I got there, the person I was replacing was just finishing up her work term. Many people in the department raved about her work. I remember my boss telling me that I had “big shoes to fill”. Thanks, as if I wasn’t sweating bullets already. Put a gun to my head why don’t you. I was determined to accept this as a challenge and not let her comments faze me.
I quickly realized that my work term wasn’t going to be so bad after all. My boss ended up being one of the most understanding, caring and unselfish people I’ve ever met. She challenged me at work everyday and was always available to answer any questions I had. Believe me, knowing very little about the public relations field, I had a lot of questions.
I earned her confidence very early on in my time there and as a result, she gave me added responsibility. I got to coordinate a major event for Bell called the “Sneak-A-Peek” event for the Calgary Stampede and it was exclusively for Bell employees. In Calgary alone, we had an employee base of over 1000 people. This was a big event that came at a very important time. Employee morale was very low. We needed to show employees that they were valued members of the corporation, but also give them a chance to kickback, relax and have some fun!
As part of the event, we had employees take the C-Train to the Stampede grounds after work the night prior to the official kickoff of Stampede. Bell had a huge pavilion on the grounds as part of their sponsorship deal with the Stampede. In the pavilion, we had a Bell store, where people could purchase Bell products. There was also an interactive area, where people could play around with ringtones on their cell phones and even get their picture taken on a horse with one of Bell’s camera phones! But the main attraction to the pavilion was definitely the Xtreme biking show that Bell put on every hour on the hour during Stampede week. Some of the stunts these riders did were crazy.
After the Xtreme biking show, we invited all employees to a local bar for some food, drinks and dancing. Let me tell you, if I didn’t know a lot of employees before that night, I knew most of them afterwards. I was everybody’s best friend at the bar because I was the guy holding all the drink tickets. It was an amazing experience and from the feedback we received, the event was deemed a huge success.
I remember getting on the elevator for work the next day. Usually, people aren’t very chatty that early in the morning, but this day was different. Employees that I hardly knew were thanking me for putting on a great event. Some employees even emailed me pictures that were taken at the bar. This was satisfaction in itself for me. I think for one night anyways, employees were able to forget about their stressful work lives and feel proud of working for Bell.
My first work term was truly a memorable experience – one that I will never forget. I remember going out to lunch with my boss prior to finishing up my work term there. She told me that she was very pleased with my work. Not only did I surpass her expectations of me, but her expectations of the previous co-op student. I was surprised by her comments, but I knew then that my hard work had paid off.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Living a nightmare
When I was five years old, my father was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), but he was still able to live a normal, productive life and continue doing what he loved —teaching junior high students. Our family wasn’t fazed by his illness. We were able to do many things together like camping and apple picking.
When I was 13 years old all of that changed. My mother woke me up and told me to come to my parent’s bedroom right away. I ran to find my father lying on the ground, unable to move, unable to stand. It was by far the scariest moment of my life. My mother was in a panic and my sister was too young to know what was going on. My father thought that he had caught the flu because it had been going around my house. That was not the case. He had suffered an MS attack.
We had to call an ambulance to take him to the hospital. My mother and sister were in tears. Being the oldest child in the family and the only boy, I tried to be strong in front of my mother and sister. However, I could only hold on for so long. I went to my room and watched my father ride off in the ambulance from my bedroom and broke down crying. I thought that my father was going to die.
The next few days were very difficult to handle. Many of my family members tried to console me and tell me not to worry. I was worried. Seeing my father suffer in a hospital bed was not easy. He had to undergo rehabilitation for six months. That meant six months of going with my mother and sister to visit him every night and make sure he was ok. I hated it.
There was a man who roomed with my father suffering from the same disease, only his case was more severe. He had suffered from MS five years longer than my father. I was so depressed seeing my father’s roommate because I kept picturing my father in the same condition five years down the road.
After my father was released from rehab and allowed to come home, our whole family was relieved that he would be ok. However, due to the MS attack, he was unable to regain full strength and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since. He would never be able to teach again. Never be able to go camping again. Never be able to go apple picking again.
I will always remember a conversation I had with my uncle, my father’s brother, after my father was released from rehab. He pulled me aside and told me that what happened to my father was devastating and difficult to handle for the entire family, but we had to pull together and make the best of the situation. He told me that things would have to change around the house now and being the “man” of the house meant that I had to stop counting on my mother and father to do everything for me. I had to take on added responsibility around the house and take pressure and stress off of my mother and father. I had to grow up fast.
*please mark this one
When I was 13 years old all of that changed. My mother woke me up and told me to come to my parent’s bedroom right away. I ran to find my father lying on the ground, unable to move, unable to stand. It was by far the scariest moment of my life. My mother was in a panic and my sister was too young to know what was going on. My father thought that he had caught the flu because it had been going around my house. That was not the case. He had suffered an MS attack.
We had to call an ambulance to take him to the hospital. My mother and sister were in tears. Being the oldest child in the family and the only boy, I tried to be strong in front of my mother and sister. However, I could only hold on for so long. I went to my room and watched my father ride off in the ambulance from my bedroom and broke down crying. I thought that my father was going to die.
The next few days were very difficult to handle. Many of my family members tried to console me and tell me not to worry. I was worried. Seeing my father suffer in a hospital bed was not easy. He had to undergo rehabilitation for six months. That meant six months of going with my mother and sister to visit him every night and make sure he was ok. I hated it.
There was a man who roomed with my father suffering from the same disease, only his case was more severe. He had suffered from MS five years longer than my father. I was so depressed seeing my father’s roommate because I kept picturing my father in the same condition five years down the road.
After my father was released from rehab and allowed to come home, our whole family was relieved that he would be ok. However, due to the MS attack, he was unable to regain full strength and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since. He would never be able to teach again. Never be able to go camping again. Never be able to go apple picking again.
I will always remember a conversation I had with my uncle, my father’s brother, after my father was released from rehab. He pulled me aside and told me that what happened to my father was devastating and difficult to handle for the entire family, but we had to pull together and make the best of the situation. He told me that things would have to change around the house now and being the “man” of the house meant that I had to stop counting on my mother and father to do everything for me. I had to take on added responsibility around the house and take pressure and stress off of my mother and father. I had to grow up fast.
*please mark this one
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