{"id":78998,"date":"2022-06-17T12:46:45","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T16:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=78998"},"modified":"2022-06-17T16:02:17","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T20:02:17","slug":"spirit-of-brock-medallist-committed-to-social-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2022\/06\/spirit-of-brock-medallist-committed-to-social-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirit of Brock medallist committed to social justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kellian Gordon hopes to inspire action.<\/p>\n

The French Studies graduate focused her time at Brock on building a richer and more diverse community.<\/p>\n

Her efforts were recognized Friday, June 17 during Brock University\u2019s Spring Convocation, where she was presented with the Board of Trustees Spirit of Brock medal. The award highlights demonstrated qualities in leadership, courage, innovation, inspiration or community involvement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not enough to not be racist,\u201d says Gordon, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Brock\u2019s Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures. \u201cIt\u2019s important to be actively anti-racist and to continually work on issues related to human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her time at the University, she was involved with Brock\u2019s Anti-Racism Task Force and the President\u2019s Advisory Committee on Human Rights, Equity and Decolonization<\/a> (PACHRED).<\/p>\n

\u201cFor cultural minorities, the feeling of injustice isn\u2019t always a deficit in primary goods, but the disregard that members of that group may feel,\u201d says Gordon. \u201cThe Anti-Racism Task Force has helped me understand the different cultures that are at Brock and how we can make everyone feel included and safe here on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kellian

Kellian Gordon is this year\u2019s recipient of the Board of Trustees Spirit of Brock medal for the Faculty of Humanities in recognition of her anti-racism work.<\/p><\/div>\n

Between her studies and volunteering with PACHRED, Gordon found other ways to give back to her fellow students as well as the wider community. During the 2019 federal election, she worked with Future Majority to encourage Brock students to vote in advance polling to amplify the concerns of youth. She also organized bootcamp workouts for off-campus students and helped the Campus Store with fashion photo shoots.<\/p>\n

Gordon\u2019s fourth-year internship<\/a> with Solidarite des femmes et familles immigrantes francophones (SOFIFRAN), through which she organized a discussion panel on Black History Month, along with tutoring French learners has allowed her to raise awareness of francophone culture and the benefits it can bring to future students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had so many opportunities to do such a variety of things,\u201d she says. \u201cThe experiential learning posters aren\u2019t just marketing; I really feel that\u2019s what Brock embodies: the possibility to learn theoretically but also to incorporate experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gordon, who grew up in Montreal before moving to Toronto with her family in high school, speaks French as her mother tongue. She initially came to Brock to study science but found her passion in French courses.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy journey in French at Brock has given me the courage to state that I am of the Francophonie \u2014 the French-speaking world,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to continue contributing to the vitality of the French language.\u201d<\/p>\n

This fall, Gordon will begin work on a Master of Arts followed by a PhD in Post-Colonial French Literature at the University of Toronto, with the goal of studying French migrant literature to broaden understanding of the impact of French imperialism.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day, I want the opportunity to have as big an impact on others as the Faculty of Humanities and the French program has had on me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The new graduate encourages future students to not give up on their goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be easy, but it\u2019s definitely worth finishing and accomplishing what you set out to do in the beginning,\u201d she says. \u201cThose who know to get back up and continue to believe in their dreams will grow their impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neta Gordon, Humanities Associate Dean, Undergraduate Student Affairs and Curriculum, who shares a name but no relation to the award winner, says: \u201cKellian’s journey reflects a key ideal and responsibility of Brock University, which is that a student’s academic work ripples out into the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is heartening to see how the mentorship Kellian received in the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures has been paid forward to community groups who can benefit from her spirit of ethics, optimism and collaboration.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kellian Gordon hopes to inspire action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":78999,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,37,1,4],"tags":[156,30,11690,4624,4740,1117,1759],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78998"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78998"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79001,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78998\/revisions\/79001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}