Why I’m Here

Hello readers,

I am writing this entry feeling very invigorated at the Toronto airport. My flight to Baltimore takes off in a few hours, so here I am, just waiting for the journey to begin. But this entry is less about my apprehension and more about the why; so without further adieu, it is my pleasure to present my objectives for the MM.

I had the privilege of being selected as the Support Person for the Standing Committee on Human Rights and Peace (SCORP) for this MM. What this means is that I will be there to support the SCORP international team with whatever it is they need throughout the sessions with the world’s SCORP members. Be it facilitating or running parts of the sessions, tapping into individual participants and finding out their specific expectations and transmitting that information to the international team, being the meeting point between the experienced and beginner perspectives, sharing the IFMSA-Québec perspective and projects, leading a Small Working Group (SWG) on mental health, as well as giving my input on evaluation for the sessions, indeed, the list is infinite and the possibilities are endless. But I degress; my objective as SCORP support person, in one succinct (alright, it’s not that succinct) sentence:

1. Facilitate in the planning, preparation, execution, evaluation and follow-up of the SCORP sessions this MM through being an active listener, motivator, facilitator, and team-player by giving and facilitating sessions, leading a SWG, providing feedback, and tailoring the SCORP experience to individual participants, all the while emphasizing the integral connection between human right and health, and the importance of taking action through IFMSA projects.

My second objective is all about bringing it back home. Be it project ideas, innovative strategies in project management, international connections, networking information regarding standing committee databases, information on how to ensure sustainable handover, knowledge from trainings attended, I want to transmit all the lessons learned to my peers back at home. More so than transmission concrete knowledge, strategies, and ideas, I want to transmit the less tangible aspects of IFMSA, for example, the largeness of it, the endless possibility of global connections, my belief in IFMSA’s potential in bringing integral issues in health to the forefront of our daily lives as future healthcare professionals. In other words…

2. I plan to record the knowledge, lessons, strategies, project and management ideas, concrete points of action and transmit the information to my peers back in Québec. I will achieve this through the use of this online blog, and through personal meetings and interactions with the Local Officers (LOs) at my campus and finally, to the entirety of IFMSA-Québec’s members at activities such as the national congress in the Spring.

My final objective is to participate actively in every aspect of the MM activities. I know this is vague, but as you might have guessed, it’s a pretty hectic and full slate of sessions and activities, so spelling them out with help both you and I make sense of it all…

3. Participate actively in all activities of the MM 2013 through being a positive, constructive, and critical member in activities such as the Project Presentations (assist Maxime in the project fair for INcommunity, an IFMSA-Québec project, collect project ideas and contact information), facilitate the formation of an SWG for an upcoming trans-regional project about the Health of Native Peoples, participate in all of the conferences and key-note events, give my input on by-law changes, Executive Board (EB) candidatures, and all other active discussion regarding plenaries during National Member Organisation (NMO) hour, and give a training during the training sessions, and most importantly, make meaningful connections with IFMSA members from all around the world.

There you have it – my objectives!

Best wishes from the gate,

Arielle