Summary
In this episode of Leadership Vibes, we speak to Ajané Adams, Paralegal student at Centennial College, and current Vice-President of the CCSAI. Ajane is a champion for diversity and equity, working with refugee relocation and representation. Hear about what his journey looks like as a student.
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Hosts and Guest Speaker
Jacqueline James
Welcome to the Centennial College Leadership Vibes podcast, season eight, Episode Six, where we discuss individual journeys to leadership. Today we have for you the current VP of Centennial College Student Association, CCSAI, Mr. Ajané Adams. Ajané is in his third semester of the paralegal program at Centennial, a champion for diversity, equity and inclusion for all individuals. Ajané is certified in diversity, equity, and inclusion leadership, and holds a certificate in management from Harvard Business School. Ajané works closely with refugees to assist them with the relocation, resettlement and representation, especially members of the LGBTQ plus community living in high risk cities around the world. In his spare time, Ajané enjoys reading romance fiction, Current Affairs, and skimming through what's new in politics.
Mebrat Bekele
Welcome to another episode of the Leadership Vibes podcast. Today we have with us our guests, Ajané. Ajané is the current VP of the CCSAI. Ajané, thank you for making yourself available to tell us your leadership journey and what it looked like for you. Why don't you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and your role within the CCSAI.
Ajané Adams
Thank you so much for having me. My name is Ajané. I tell most people they can call me Ajané if they're feeling fancy, or AJ if they're feeling a normal day, you know, I am currently serving as the vice president located at Ashtonbee campus for the CCSAI, which is the Centennial College Student Association. My role entails, it's mostly governance and advocacy, governance in a sense, where we try to set tools in place to ensure student voices are being heard and how the organization runs and functions in regards to advocacy. We advocate for students on multiple different levels. So at the institutional level, and also at the governmental level. So that's municipal, federal, provincial, we try to cater to all our students and their needs, what they desire in order to make your academic career less hassling or hassle free, I should say.
Mebrat Bekele
Yes, very cool, as currently it's actually the election season. Right?
Ajané Adams
That is correct. Yes.
Mebrat Bekele
Yeah. What is that looking like? Like? What's your role in that?
Ajané Adams
So in regards to elections, I'm looking at the president position for now, I hope to become the president one day, but let us see where that takes us, and where life takes us. It's rather an opportunity to effect and create change. And in regards to the minute, we have many different positions available. So for example, we have you know, VPs, we need a VP from each campus. We are, we always encourage students to participate and join and come along and sign up to be a part of elections. In regards to elections, the election process can be a bit tedious, because it's student politics, of course. But what I can guarantee is that once you have a passion and a desire to lead and influence and create change, then more than likely you will succeed. Alright, so on the air, I encourage students to participate and partake in this elections process.
Mebrat Bekele
You've done such an amazing job as a VP, and I have no doubt you'll do great work if you ever become a president. Definitely voting for you.
Ajané Adams
Thank you,
Mebrat Bekele
Ashtonbee member. How do you define leadership? And what was your motivation in taking part in a student based leadership?
Ajané Adams
My motivation, right, to be honest with you, it's been brewing for years. Coming into this country six years ago, I have always been the type of kid growing up, that annoying kid in class who always wants to take lead, but always growing up from pre K through to prep school and coming up, you would find out that, you know, I was that annoying kid in class, people pleaser and wanting to do everything. Coming into this new country I had that I had a sense of confidence, always. But then coming here to Canada, I realized that was diluted a lot. It was, you know, a bit scary. Being the only person here with no family, having to struggle and push through. I went through a very hard time, a very hard time, in my life, beingm from being homeless, to dropping out of school, and never having much support. And, you know, the fact that I was able to, I looked at this and when I picked myself up, I made a promise. And I said to myself, I will never allow this to happen to anyone else if I can. And so once I picked myself up, I was able to come back into school and I I noticed that there were things that needed change, or changes that need to be made. And I decided in my mind, I could either sit around and complain about these changes and these problems that we're facing. Or I could either find a way to effect these changes myself. And the best way forward was I saw the advertisements for the vice president position, I was encouraged by my professors to do so. And I applied and funnily enough, I got the position. And ever since I've been really advocating for quite a lot, right, I think maybe your follow up question is going to be what what are those? If I'm not mistaken, but-
Mebrat Bekele
Yeah, it was actually, you're really my mind, that's what I was thinking.
Ajané Adams
You want me to answer? I could answer. So basically, my advocacy right now, I've been focused a lot on combating food insecurity, because we've noticed that, you know, even my group and my class, I notice that a lot, my classmates are seeing that they cannot afford food anymore. They're simply not eating. I myself, I've been utilizing the food banks, which has been a while I've utilized the food bank since 2017, 2018. Now, you know, going to the grocery store $100 cannot get you even a little bag of groceries, that is probably just bread and an egg and probably a juice. One thing I want to have established recently, I asked for a breakfast program, and we are able to launch that breakfast program this week.
Mebrat Bekele
Was that your doing?
Ajané Adams
That was, yes, that was.
Mebrat Bekele
I've seen it, like, yeah, that's an amazing program. I'm pretty sure it's gonna help a lot of people.
Ajané Adams
As a matter of fact, we did not expect that to be as, as crazy as it was, as it was, because we budgeted for a few students, we never expected so many student and we realized that the need was definitely there. Because we start like, for example, at Ashtonbee, we started the breakfast program on Tuesday, and at 8:30. When students went there at 8:40, the food was gonne, finished, it was done. So now, yeah, we have to be thinking about strategizing and creating and finding more supply for each campus. Right. So we see all this has been helping another advocacy work that I've been doing, is advocating for moms, single parents, because they're having it hard and they just need support in general. Another thing is trying to get the food bank services to all campuses. So what does that look like? I'm thinking more of like a delivery system, where students can go online and order their groceries and then have it delivered once a week to their respective campuses where they can pick it up. Rather than having to go all the way to Progress. You know, and above other things at the federal level we are, recently in November, went to present, or not just present, but also speak with Member of Parliament, I spoke with senators and I also spoke with ministers, about, from international students equity to creating more mental health support, mental health funding for institutions to hire diverse individuals to provide mental health services for students, because that is a big thing. So there's a lot of advocacy work that is being done right to ensure that all students feel welcome and seen. And like they, they deserve a place at Centennial College, right? We don't want anyone to feel like they're disenfranchised or not, they don't matter at all. So yeah, so that's, that's been a bit of the work that I've been able to do within the last three months of being VP.
Mebrat Bekele
That's amazing work. You're also an international student as well, right?
Ajané Adams
Was. I was an intentional student, but no more. I'm no longer an international student. I'm domestic.
Mebrat Bekele
What was the challenges like associated with being international student? Do you want to share on those?
Ajané Adams
Most definitely. And funnily enough, we had a protest, had a protest in November, well, not a protest, but more of a demonstration at Queen's Park where we gathered a group of students to go and protest the inequality or the inequity of the international student tuition, as we're seeing it being used as a way to make profits for institutions these days. And we're like, no, we don't want that. Because we're not cash mules. What I noticed is back then it was so hard to afford. Affordability was a huge problem. Most of us work here, I've heard a lot of stories where students, for one my parents had to sell a lot, give up a lot in order to grant me this opportunity to come to Canada, and that's just all their sales and all that they could have sold only was able to pay maybe tuition right? From mental health, mental health had a severe decline, which resulted in me having to drop out of school and resulted in me ultimately not being able to afford to live anywhere and became homeless, not being able to afford food. So you know, affordability I think is a huge issue for most international students, because outside of the country, we are given this grand idea like coming to Canada is like going to heaven. You're told that, you know, when you come here, you will get PR as you graduate instantly, right? And that's not the case. What you, you know, it's hard, it's a lot of hard work. If you're not coming from a wealthy background, it's not as easy. And not all international students are rich, most of us, we sacrifice a lot to come here, in order to give ourselves a better chance at life, right, a better chance to support our families and ourselves.
Mebrat Bekele
Yeah. Because when you come here, as an international student, you're just thinking of the opportunity, you're going to a new country, you're going to learn, so you take that as a win. And nobody really thinks of the background effect that has on you, like, especially our mental health. School in general is stressful for everybody. On top of that, you changing your home country, leaving your family, the people, you know, the areas, you know, nobody really thinks about the impact that has on like the international students mental health.
Ajané Adams
Exactly. Yeah. When you've mentioned mental health piece as well, we have to also take into account that we need to not just, not only we need to provide mental health support for students, right, we have seen an increase since even COVID, we've seen an increase in the need for mental health support, but just not only mental health support, but diverse mental health support, meaning if someone is from India, we might want to have a mental health or a social worker who will probably speak their language or can identify with their culture, because what if their issue has to deal with they have to do with our culture? I as a black man cannot sit there and stand and pretend like I understand what an Indian student is facing within their personal cultural sphere or their life as a mental, where mental health is of concern, providing that diverse mental health support, I may not be able to, to you know, I speak patois, which is a Jamaican dial, like if I have someone who is Jamaican and can understand my culture, and I'm going in there and I'm speaking raw patois to that to him. And to express my emotions and my feelings. It may be received and understood better than someone who you know, don't have a clue as to what the culture is like. So yeah, I think that is very important.
Mebrat Bekele
Definitely, it makes sense that every culture's expression is different, right? Yeah. Make sense. You're the VP, you're a student. I'm assuming you also have a work life. How do you keep all of that balanced? And how are you maintaining your mental health and like preventing burnout, because you're doing a lot just on your role as a VP, and you add your assignment and like your personal life, how are you handling things?
Ajané Adams
Trust me, it takes a lot of a lot of passion, hard work, and dedication and prioritization to get things done. I don't see my VP role as a job, but more as a duty. I feel like I have a duty to make sure I hear students voices, and I'm advocating for them, making sure that they're heard. And I feel like that comes to me as default. school, I feel I have to lead by example, where my academics are of concern. So I have no choice but to make sure I'm maintaining a 4.0. and doing well, because of course, if I'm a student, I would want my VP to be academically sound, right? I put that pressure on myself to say, AJ, you have to, even when bass come and I'm like, I don't want to do this assignment. I have like a 10 page assignment right now. And I don't want to do it. But what motivates me is that I probably have students who, you know, are saying, they're looking up to AJ, and I want when graduation come, AJ is walking the route of the stage. And he's getting honors, right? Because he's the VP and I put that pressure up, purposely put that pressure on myself to give me that boost of motivation that I need to proceed with school. In regards to work, I tell myself, if I don't work, I'm going to starve. And I don't want to starve, right. So I create these little, these little compulsory systems in place to make sure that I'm doing and I'm following my duties and my roles and my jobs. So I put some, I put a bit of urgency, a bit of pressure. And in regards to burnout, I make sure that I have a turn off time, I make sure that I do not ever, at certain time, my phone is off. At certain time, it means I'm going to take a shower, listen to my little motivational speakers on YouTube, I will meditate, I will take an hour to read a few chapters of a book that I'm reading currently. And that's just my time. On Sundays, o not text me or call me on a Sunday, because Sunday is for my family and making sure that I'm connected and bonded with, bonding with my family. So you know, it's just being intentional with the process, right and making sure that you're setting your boundaries. So that's how I me,t make sure I'm not burning all data, maintaining good mental health.
Mebrat Bekele
So a lot of boundary setting, scheduling, make sense? Strict, strict, very strict scheduling. You have to be very busy. If I remember correctly, you have a goal of amount of books you read for this year.
Ajané Adams
Yes, I do. I do. I had a goal.
Mebrat Bekele
How's that going?
Ajané Adams
So for 2022 I had a goal of reading 50 books I think it was, and at that point I went, I think when we first spoke I was at around 20, 20, 30 thereabout, but I was able to read the 50 books. But must tell you have some of it. I cheated, because some of the books, I just basically skimmed through them. Not that because I want to meet my target of 50. But more off because they were uninteresting. Yeah, it wasn't worth my while sitting and reading from cover to cover, right. So I was able to achieve it. And this year, I setting another goal for myself to see if I could make it to 60. So far, I have read only tw.
Mebrat Bekele
We're just at the beginning.
Ajané Adams
But we're at the beginning, but I'm hoping that once I'm through with school that we'll be able to do more, but so far I've read, I've read Prince Harry's book, and also Michelle Obama's new memoir. Yes. Those are the two books I've read so far this year.
Mebrat Bekele
Do you have a book club? Or no?
Ajané Adams
I was hoping to start one and launch one. Yeah, but at this point, because I'm in the CCSAI, right now, I'm not able to create a club, as it's a conflict of interest as a board member, I'm not able to do that. Because we are the ones who approve clubs and approve funding for clubs and so forth. So it's a conflict of interest for me, yeah. I can participate. If and obviously, if another student out there is hearing me and loves passion of reading. If you want to start up a book club, we will be happy to, to, y'know, pusn that through.
Mebrat Bekele
Something to think about.
Ajané Adams
Yep.
Mebrat Bekele
Do you have any advice? For closing advice for students that want to join? Or just general advice? What advice would you give to students?
Ajané Adams
The first thing I would say is, you know, I live by a principle that treat others the way you want to be treated, you know, make sure that you're being respectful and kind to everyone, no matter what, whatever you want for yourself, make sure you're trying your best to put forward that with other people. So I'm saying when I say that, I mean, if you feel as though you are capable of being the voice for someone who is less fortunate or not even just less fortunate, but isn't able to speak up for themselves, I would advise you to take on that role and speak up and be an advocate. School enough itself is hard, it's a lot of stress or financial climate right now, our health care crisis that we're facing right now in Ontario is getting to everyone, there's a lot of problems that we face as students. To be honest, I have an entire book of complaints that I've received from students, um, that I'm currently trying my best to address before my term ends, and I just want to say to everyone, you know, it is okay as it is, it's okay that we are going through this right now. Because what, guess what, at the end of the day, it will make us, it can only make us stronger. But once we push and fight through it, you have our support at the CCSAI, that's what we're here for, we will do whatever we can in our power to make sure that your voices are heard and that you are, you know you are being advocated for, but also it's your duty to make sure that you're speaking up when needs be, because we can't advocate for you. If you're not speaking up, we don't know, you know, we're not mind reader's at the CCSAI. We will, we only can fix issues if we know what the issues are. And so I advise students to speak up, you know, speak up and be brave and be bold in and be intentional in wanting change. Another thing is that it's okay. It's also great to volunteer, volunteerism is a wonderful thing. Do that within your respective communities, you know, like reach out to your Member of Parliament and see if maybe they need help with community building or community work. Another thing I would advise you to do is to follow your passion. Follow what you're passionate about. If you ever feel like you want to volunteer as well at the school, you can come to the CCSAI office and get involved. You could sign up as a volunteer or even apply for a job if your job duties is in line with whatever you are passionate about. So if you are passionate about social media marketing or media in general, apply for the media positions that are available. Going forward, I would love to see more participation and more engagement with students at the CCSAI because as I said, we are here for you, this is what we're being paid for in general, that is what our organization is for, is for us to advocate for students. And we have a wonderful team. So don't be afraid, reach out and take it one day at a time and we will make sure that you're heard for sure.
Mebrat Bekele
Yeah, thank you. You guys have offices at all campuses and you're easily accessible to students. So-
Ajané Adams
That is correct. So the easiest way, like a more flexible way, so if you're on campus, we have offices that all campuses. Progress we have an entire building for ourselves.
Mebrat Bekele
You guys have a beautiful building.
Ajané Adams
Thank you Thank you. I must, I say, we recently, and this is a big win for us at the CCSAI, we recently paid off our 20 year mortgage, yes, so it's ours, we own that building, the students of Centennial College no officially owns that building, so yeah, we, that's something we celebrated recently. I don't know if there was going to be a ribbon cutting ceremony or what but Centennial College
Mebrat Bekele
I sure hope so, that's impressive.
Ajané Adams
I hope so. But Centennial College students, we paid for that. So you know, we all paid for that for 20 years back. So you know it was a great, is a great move. And another thing is they can reach us on Instagram at CCIAI Toronto. That's a great way to connect with us. They can visit us online at ccsai.ca. And they can also visit us on our other social media platform at CCSAI. That's Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn.
Mebrat Bekele
Pretty cool. Well, thank you for being available today and sharing your amazing experiences with students. I'm definitely encouraged and motivated by your stories and I'm pretty sure all our listeners will be moved as well. Thank you for your time, AJ,
Ajané Adams
my pleasure. My pleasure.
Jacqueline James
Thank you for joining us for episode seven of the Leadership Vibes podcast. In the next episode, we are coming back with our guest Michelle Solomon to hear about her leadership journey and experience. Make sure to subscribe to the Centennial College Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts and Spotify.