Austin Sharpe
AUSTIN SHARPE
TRC Candidate
Program: Social Service Worker
“My name is Austin Sharpe. I am a neurodivergent mature student returning to academia for the first time in 10 years. I identify as Agender, and accept He/Him pronouns. I am attending Sheridan's Social Service Worker program at the Trafalgar campus.
When I'm not on campus engaging in political discourse, you’ll find me at home in Paris, ON. reading, or playing video games. I live with my grandmother Trudy, and two cats, Sunny and Lola. I am engaged to my partner Chelsea, whom I met at a constituency office many years ago.
When I first came to Sheridan, I signed up for the Peer Mentor program. I was interested to see what college life is like, and to have an administrative contact of sorts to help me navigate the machinations of the educational bureaucracy.
My involvement with the Sheridan community has been limited. I have a few reasons, mainly relating to my age and commute. However, reflecting on these personal feelings and engaging with students in my classes, I’ve come to a point where being an amplification to their voices has become a primary driving factor in me engaging with this council.”
What are some of the student issues that you would like to bring to the Board table?
✔ Financial Support: Scholarships, Bursaries and Awards
✔ Health and Wellness
✔ Student Housing Resources
Write about one of the current student issues you selected above. share why advocating for this issue is important to you:
“I think the selected issue “Health and Wellness” is broad, and allows for a lot of my different views and passions to coexist in an intersectional sense. As a result, I have broken this down into a few primary factors that I am passionate about as follows:
Access to care: As a social service worker student, we spend the first year of our course learning about all of the facets related to healthcare. We learn about the intersectionality, social location, and the structural underpinnings of society at all levels. A primary intersection that ties a lot of these different categories is healthcare. Access to mental health services, medications, therapies, etc, and the provisions afforded to us as citizens through government interaction. Access to care is a human right, and as a member of this council I will dedicate my time to ensure the bar we set is maintained, and leaves no student behind.
Access to economic stability: Coming back to school has been a challenge. I made the decision to invest in a better future for myself and family. I am thankful to have access to resources like OSAP, as well as my personal community to rely on for support. I recognise that not everyone has the same type of support available to them. As a member of this council, My focus will be on working with the other members as well as outside organisations to bring about structural changes to help support the student body in more ways, while maintaining and nurturing what is currently available.
Access to advocacy: Students are the reason this organization exists, and why the school as a whole is able to operate. Without this community, we quite literally wouldn’t exist. Student voices are important, as for as much as this organisation claims to be intune with these voices, many slip through the cracks. This is not meant with malicious intent, but rather to highlight that the work never stops, the improvements never cease. As a member of this council, I will fight to expand our advocacy reach, and work to create more opportunities for sustainable avenues of personal advocacy.”