Anika Peng: Student, Schulich School of Business
Create Community in Quarantine with Anika Peng
Anika Peng is a fourth year student at the Schulich School of Business. Sheβs the Undergraduate Business Society President at Schulich, working with the 2019-2020 elected council to advocate for students, provide support systems, and connect them with opportunities to set them up for success.
Anika chats with Marsha about the challenges her graduating class is facing and maintaining community in COVID-19 times as a student.
βIβm looking for new skills to develop throughout this experience so that I can come out and be a better person and a more reputable young professional after graduation.β
-Anika Peng
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(Tune in at the 8:27 mark for Anika)
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A huge thank you to Origins Media Haus for producing this podcast. You can find them at:
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Connect with Marsha:
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Transcript:
Marsha Druker 8:27
Hi Anika! Welcome to the create community podcast. I'm super excited to chat with you. So before we get into it, I'd love for you to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit more about who you are.
Anika Peng 8:45
For sure. I'm a full time business student in Toronto. I'm studying Accounting and Marketing. And right now, there's been a complete shift in how the education system is running. Everyone's doing remote learning. A lot of professors and faculty are trying to figure out what's going on there. So a lot of confusion up in the air for students. And then for me, I'm also in a lot of different student organizations. So a lot of those meetings and a lot of the events that we had been planning to do for the next couple of months have been shifted to either remote experiences just completely cancelled. A lot has changed over the last two weeks.
Marsha Druker 9:20
I can only imagine. When I was in school at Schulich, we had a strike that happened my first year and it was kind of similar in that there was like several months where things were just completely interrupted. And we had no idea when we were going back or what it would look like. And I know how difficult that was as a student being in my first year, but I can only imagine being so close to graduation and having to deal with this crazy situation that life has thrown at us. But I think you're handling it and so gracefully.
Marsha Druker 9:49
So you're the president of the Undergraduate Business Society. What has that looked like over these last couple of weeks? How are you taking a leadership position to help communicate to other students to really help your community.
Anika Peng 10:02
Right now, I think a lot of students are just stressed about the confusion of it all, like I said, I think so much is up in the air. And students are just trying to finish up their year, some of them are trying to graduate. So a lot of my work has to do with being the liaison between faculty and admin, supporting what they're looking to do. And what the news is today is very different from what it was yesterday. So making sure that all of our students are up to date is majority of what I've been doing recently.
Anika Peng 10:28
And then also all the events at the end of the year that we were supposed to be celebrating our achievements and celebrating just the events that we've done all over the past couple of years, we had to cancel those. So we're looking for different ways to celebrate these without having to do them in person. So whether that looks like zoom calls, or potentially doing an E-formal, something like that, we're looking into different options that are a little bit unique but could still bring value to our students.
Marsha Druker 10:55
I think it's so important. I was really sad to see a lot of universities across the country just completely cancel graduations, not even try to postpone to a future date. So it's really amazing to see that there's student run initiatives trying to bring those experiences virtually, because I mean, of course, like, you're still going to graduate, you're still going to get your diploma, but you want to celebrate that and you want to have your community around for that to actually really celebrate this amazing milestone. So I'm really excited to see what you guys end up doing and what that's going to look like virtually and I hope some kind of in person experience could be postponed for a later date as well.
Marsha Druker 11:30
In terms of your personal community, how are you maintaining that sense of it now?
Anika Peng 11:36
A lot of it has to do with constant video calls. So I'm doing a lot of Skype, Zoom, Facebook calls with my friends. We're playing a lot of Jackbox Games to stay socially involved, and we're still cracking jokes and talking about stuff. So it's good to just keep that communication line going, just because they're my main support system, having my friends, especially my UBC counsel around as well. So that's been awesome. And then for anytime that I'm feeling stressed, or anything of that matter, I just try to do exercise. And we're Skyping those as well and doing virtual workouts with my friends.
Marsha Druker 12:10
That's awesome. And I've been seeing that you've been keeping super busy really taking this time to further your own education and work on things that you maybe haven't had time for. I saw that you're doing your Smart Serve certification. What other kind of initiatives have you been getting involved in? Tell us a little bit more about those.
Anika Peng 12:26
When I realized that I had a lot more time on my hands, I tried to compile a list with my friends about things that we could be learning and things that we wanted to do for the past couple years that we were always like, "we're going to push it off". Smart Serve was one of them, I really want to get that done, as well as some Google Analytic workshops. I want to try those and see how far I can get as well as just random courses on Marketing and Social Media that I might not have had a chance to take in my Undergrad - things that could still help my future in the direction that I wanted it to go in. So just looking for new skills to develop throughout this experience so that I can come out and be a better person and a more reputable professional after graduation.
Marsha Druker 13:04
I'm so inspired by you. I've kind of seen two different approaches, some people are really using this time to just fall back and do like the bare minimum and get by. And then there's people like you who just really grabbed this opportunity for what it is, and really make use of this time. It's so inspiring. And it's so amazing to see you do that. So congratulations. And I think that's something that really sets you apart from other students from other young professionals. And it's such a good way to further yourself during such a weird and uncertain time.
Marsha Druker 13:31
So just to wrap things up and end off on here, I want to get your thoughts on something that you're grateful for now.
Anika Peng 13:38
I'm really grateful for my support system and all the friends that I have. I think, everyone that's been talking to me and just helping me get through. Because, mentally, I feel like this has been difficult as well. It's not just staying at home for fun anymore. It's about the fact that you're doing this for your own safety and health. I'm also really grateful for how technology has advanced to a point where a lot of the stuff we can do is now completely remote and we're still able to get a lot of it done even though it's a little bit different.
Marsha Druker 14:07
I'm super grateful for that as well and super grateful to know you and to work with you. Anika thank you so much for joining me.
Anika showed that physical distancing does not have to mean social isolation! Stay safe. Wash your hands. Donβt hoard toilet paper. And keep creating your community.
Check out interviews with other guests at createcommunitypod.com/quarantine
