Heather Perl

Heather's Experience at Humber

Please tell us about your time at Humber College. What was the best part of it?

I had the most amazing experience at Humber. I was able to build friendships through different activities such as being a class leader, getting involved in open house and other volunteer opportunities, as well as building relationships with your professors. I was able to build so many great relationships with my professors. Hearing their stories that they are experiencing in their jobs currently and what has happened in the past allows for the content to be taught using real life examples and to be clear. Each class that I took allowed for different points of view when working with children, youth, and their families.

I also really enjoyed the thesis experience. While it was a lot of work the satisfaction of the work that was completed by you and/or your group allowed for you to be extra proud of the hard work you put into the program and then celebrate your achievements. At first hearing the word “thesis” was terrifying but all the way through the experience the professor that was assigned to you was with you every step of the way and made sure that you succeeded, and that is really important to a student especially when presenting it to other individuals. Thank you to all my professors for helping me to get to where I am now!

Please tell us about your experience since graduating.

Since graduation I have been able to apply different theories, frameworks and tools while planning different activities for a summer camp for kids with epilepsy and other disabilities. Some frameworks include therapeutic play and art such as colouring and making crafts allowing for their motor skills to grow and sensory skills to be used. Some of the play includes a sensory ball which has spike like items on the ball making it feel different than a regular ball. This can be used for several games such as simply throwing the ball back and forth with someone or other games like dodgeball, pinball, hot potato, flinch, catch, do not catch, and many more. Being able to apply my knowledge to different games is not something that I would have thought to do previously. Being able to apply adaptability to games and teaching my co-counsellors is something I think is beneficial for all of us. I look forward to using this in my future careers as well.

What do you find most satisfying about your career choice?

I think the most satisfying thing about my career choice is the impact that you have on the people we work with. It is not just the young people that we are impacting, it is also those around them, whether it is family, friends, teachers etc. The work we do also impacts those people too. With every young person you work with, no case will be the same, which allows you to learn and grow while also being challenged in different ways and learning from the young people we work with means we are also doing good work with them. Not every case will turn out the way we hoped, but you can also take that as an important learning experience.