One of the things I value in my political representatives is the ability to listen to suggestions and concerns from the community and implement them. When I saw that Shefaza was running as the Green Party candidate for Waterloo, I immediately thought of her qualities when she was my teacher and how incredibly transferable those qualities would be in a political setting. Now, after I’ve graduated and moved on from being her student, I am still learning from her in so many ways through her campaign and I look forward to learning from her in the future, hopefully with her as our local MPP!
I had the pleasure of getting to know Shefaza as a student of hers during my undergraduate degree at the University of Waterloo. I first connected with Shefaza when she taught me a field ecology course; however, due to the pandemic, it was fully online. Despite my hesitations and concerns with doing fieldwork virtually and alone, this course became one of my favourites. I attribute that success to Shefaza’s listening and community-building skills as a teacher. I am voting for her to be my MPP because she will bring those skills to Queen’s Park. Voices and concerns from the community will be the main driver of her action in office.
Keeping students engaged in online classes is a known struggle among educators. The way Shefaza dealt with those struggles was by creating a community in our class, simply by listening to us! Throughout the term, Shefaza polled us on our feelings about the course and whether we were learning effectively. When we felt something needed to change, she listened and implemented those changes. Shefaza regularly asked for feedback to make our learning experience the best it could be. Shefaza’s collaborative and inclusive leadership style makes her a great fit for our MPP. She will genuinely listen to the people she represents and work with them to create a better community based on what citizens want and need. Similar to how she collaborates with her students, Shefaza will work right alongside the community as our MPP to build a desirable future for everyone.
Connecting with nature while doing fieldwork for Shefaza’s field course, Spring 2020