Student of the Month

Hello February and hello KATIE JAMES!

This month we have decided to highlight a hardworking student who gets involved in her academics. Katie James is a dedicated student who knows the key to balancing. She is like many of us here at Brock U dealing with a tough balance of academics, work and a social life. Somehow she does it all and does it well!

Co-President of the Brock University Geography Society (BUGS), Katie was thrown into the position this year without prior knowledge and loves it! She has spent her executive time creating opportunities for geography students to meet each other, to get to know their professors outside of the classroom and, all-in-all, to benefit from great networking opportunities. Katie has planned monthly pizza lunches, bowling parties and at the end of the term she would like to organize a park clean up. On that note, BUGS is not just a great networking opportunity; these geographers pay it forward. This past holiday season, BUGS donated canned food to the Salvation Army in Hamilton and also gives back to the geography department at Brock in various ways.

Katie is not just a leader; she is an excellent writer as well. Katie won the Geography Department Writing Award in her third year! The award was given based on her writing on the perceptions about rural idyll, which means, she examined how country music portrays an image of what the rural life consists of. Katie concluded that the popular lyrics and music videos in country music create an image of rural life that is not entirely true. Yet, their existence and popularity demonstrates that perhaps keeping the rural idyll alive may be more important than understanding how much rural people and places function.

What else can this girl take on?! It turns out, she is just getting started. The Southern Algonquin Township has been working on an official town plan since 2007. Instead of acquiring a professional planner to create the town plan, they contacted Brock! The students who are assisting in the planning of this township are gaining plenty of experience by contributing directly to this project. The names of the Brock students contributing to this project will be permanently stamped on this development… and you guessed it! One of those names will be “Katie James”. When asked how this opportunity has benefited her, Katie replied, “It’s a great learning curve, I learn what most people don’t understand in terms of what goes into provincial policies and regulations. I was able to sit in on town meetings and not just be a by-stander, I learned a lot and made an impact.”

Oh, did I mention that with all of this on her calendar, Katie still has time to work at Union Station, snowboard, AND teach snowboarding!

Want to trade resumes with this girl? Me too. On behalf of the Brock University Students’ Union we send out a big huge congratulations to Katie James. Good luck with the rest of your student career at Brock and keep showing us how to do it all!

To get involved with the park clean up at the end of the term please contact Katie at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ! You do not have to be part of the geography department to get involved!