Student perspective: Rougui Bah, Sociology

Posted on Monday, April 27, 2020

What is your program and year of study?

I received my degree in Sociology with a minor in Social Work in 2019. I am currently pursuing a Master's degree in Sociology at uOttawa.

Have you volunteered as part of a course or as an extracurricular activity?

I've done both.

Why did you decide to get involved and volunteer?

It was thanks to the Michaëlle Jean Centre for Global and Community Engagement that I discovered the various benefits that extracurricular volunteering or learning through community engagement can bring. The job market often requires experience and that's why volunteering seemed like a good option to not only expand my network, but also broaden my skills outside of my field of study.

Rougui Bah

What were your favourite placements? What did you do and what were your duties?

  • Extracurricular Placement: Vice President of Internal Affairs for the Sociology and Anthropology Student Association
    January 2018 to Summer 2019

    I was mainly in charge of the management of the Association. Since I’m bilingual, I attended department and faculty meetings to represent undergraduate students in sociology and anthropology. I was also in charge of planning French social media publications and the 2019 sociology and anthropology week .
  • Community Service Learning (CSL) Program Placement: Research Analyst at Assemblée de la Francophonie de l'Ontario (AFO)
    Fall 2019 - Course: SOC7513 - Sociology of Culture

    I was primarily responsible for conducting quantitative and qualitative research and analysis of the AFO's 2019 annual survey. Once the analysis completed and the results compiled, I was able to create the computer graphics and the report that we share each year at the conference.

What did you learn from the volunteer program? Did these skills help you in the job market?

I learned the importance of networking and having experience with organizations already established in the community. This is very beneficial once you finish your studies and the time comes time to tackle the labour market. The AFO has also allowed me to broaden my skills with software such as Airtable, Smartsheets and Adobe Illustrator. These are all softwares that will certainly help me in the future. I was also lucky enough to get a summer job with the AFO since I was already familiar with the software and got along well with the whole team.