Chelsea Caldwell
Chelsea Caldwell graduated in June 2014 with a 4-Year BA in Human Rights and Global Studies and a minor in Conflict Resolution Studies. She went on to study at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University where she graduated with her law degree in June 2017. Caldwell describes how she was challenged, mentored, impassioned, and inspired during her time at Global College. She travelled to New York and Ottawa twice (in her first and then last year of studies), assisted a professor with a course on issues affecting newcomers to Canada, and formed lifelong relationships with friends and colleagues.
“While I had great interest in social justice prior to Global College, it was my studies there which made my passion for human rights tangible. My studies at Global College cemented my desire to continually seek activity in my life which draws upon my inquisitive and compassionate nature.”
Caldwell speaks very fondly about her time at Global College, saying it was like her home on campus while studying at the University of Winnipeg for four years.
“Global College was the place where I felt I could go and have a tea or snack on my lunch or break with any staff or students on-site. I met some of my best friends while on the Global College Student Advisory Council and in the seminars of my Human Rights and Global Studies program.”
Caldwell used her education as a way to engage in a more informed and compassionate manner with surrounding people and places. She applied what she learned at Global College within her legal studies at Osgoode Hall Law School, saying that it better equipped her to analyze issues within various caselaw as well as in her interactions with clients at the legal aid clinic. Caldwell believes her Human Rights and Global Studies education trained her to become a more informed and analytical lawyer, through questioning all sides of an argument from a holistic perspective and considering the grey areas of a case, and not just the black or white.
Reflecting upon her beginnings at Global College, Caldwell says she carries those memories and experiences in her further education and career:
“Currently, I am working in a building which I visited during the UN New York-Ottawa Study Tour in 2010 and then again in 2013. It is humbling to see how things come full circle, and I am happily reminded of my time as a Global College student every morning when I walk through the front door at work.
Wherever I went post-Global College, I always managed to connect with a friend, former classmate, professor, or friend-of-a-friend from Global College - whether it was in Geneva, Toronto, Bangkok, Ottawa or elsewhere. The world felt a bit smaller and easier to explore with my Global College education and related network on hand.”