Try new things and meet new people
As my four years as an animal science major within the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) nears the end, I have come to realize how few people I know outside of my college and the disconnect that exists between Aggies and the rest of the student population at Guelph.
Agricultural students, or “Aggies” as we are commonly known, form an incredibly tight-knit group of students who not only study together, but also participate in a wide range of extracurricular activities and traditions; some of which span back decades. Many people around campus will recognize us as the students wearing jackets with the distinctive monogrammed lettering on the back.
In general, we Aggies tend to stick to our own.We get comfortable with the people that we take classes with and don’t seem to stray too far outside of this comfort zone. While this means that we have very strong relationships with each other and great class spirit, it also means that we miss out on meeting many of the other amazing students at the University of Guelph.
I have had the opportunity to take several classes outside my major and participate in different events with students that aren’t Aggies. Through these opportunities I have come to realize and appreciate the different backgrounds, interests and talents of fellow students outside of the OAC. I have also discovered that many of these people have little exposure to agriculture and don’t understand its significance to our University.
The OAC was founded in 1874 and was one of the founding colleges for the University of Guelph.Now the college only accounts for approximately 2400 of the 20,000 undergraduate students and 670 of the 2000 graduate students within the University. The OAC is also home to 625 diploma students here in Guelph and at our Ridgetown campus. Despite the low percentage of enrollment relative to the rest of the campus community, in the last year the annual research revenue attained by the 137 faculty members of the OAC was $55 million dollars, according to the OAC Dean’s office. Data collected from Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and the U.S. News and World reports indicate that Guelph is ranked within the top two best institutions for agriculture research in Canada and top 25 in the world.
Aggies are the first that should be blamed for the disconnect that exists between us, our programs, and the other students and their studies on campus. We don’t reach out and make an effort to get to know and understand our fellow students as well as we should. That’s something that should be changed—starting with me. For my last semester on campus, I hope to meet more people outside of my circle of agricultural friends by trying out a few different activities. I plan on going back to the “Aquí se habla español” meetings to practice the Spanish I’ve learned in my introductory classes, trying out the creative writing club, and maybe even a new sport.
I also want to invite all of you, my fellow Gryphons, to make the same effort. While we, the Aggies, may look intimidating marching across campus in a group, I promise we are a friendly crowd. If you have any questions about food production, agriculture, the OAC, or just want to know how much those leather jackets cost, please come over and say hi. I personally would love to hear about you and your experience at Guelph and I think that maybe we could learn something from one another.
Photo by Mariah Bridgeman.