Lily Forsythe, 29

St. John’s, Newfoundland

Art History and English Literature Double Major
Veterinary Technician Diploma

I found this program by searching for a career path

offering one on one helping others,
diagnostic/problem solving, holistic, wellness that
starts from within, constant learning/upgrading,
and potential for self-employment.

Future plans include working at a wellness centre to

build clientele, eventually owning my own business
(renting an office space in town), upgrading to
pursue masters/phd, possibly teaching down the
road. I look forward to finding a specialty to focus
on.

Lucy Griffiths – I love your classes and your Yin/Metal/Earth energy. I find your
teaching style to be very clear, measured, and thorough. Powerpoints are very well
done and instructions are generally straight forward and given in a timely manner.
Foundations was my favourite class because TCM kept blowing my mind with how it
connects to everything – everything is connected – I feel you illustrated this
excellently.

Bella Tan – Your energy and enthusiasm for acupuncture is incredibly inspiring.
Your ability to pass on massive amounts of information at lightning speed is
admirable albeit slightly overwhelming. I have learned so much in your class and
appreciate your listening to the students about requested breaks every hour as they
are needed in order to process the information you are passing on to us and for us
all to take a second to breathe. I really appreciated the way you prepared us for the
exam and how it was exactly how you said it would be – no surprises!

Anjli Joshi – Your teaching style is phenomenal, I greatly appreciate your anecdotes,
simplified teaching style, and the energy you put into connecting with your students.
You provide adequate breaks (at least 10 minutes every hour), and I generally feel
that I learn/remember a lot much from your classes without feeling
overwhelmed/overloaded despite the late hour and technically dry material.

Dr. Li – Thank you for offering your expertise to this class! I also loved the guest
lectures as they offer invaluable insight and different perspectives. I really liked how
you listen and always offer a unique/empathetic viewpoint to each of us.
Joyce – You were super on the ball, very sweet, patient, and encouraging! This class
had great teaching style and organization. The songs and the repetition were very
helpful for memorization. Thank you Joyce!!

Blended program – The one on one teaching style of the blended delivery program
(due to small class size!) has been wonderful. I have greatly appreciated the effort
put into instruction of our four hour long classes, no small feat. I have found that
zoom offers a unique way of bonding with teachers and students that will translate
very well to real life once we are learning onsite next year.
I understand that the online component of this program is new and one that we are
figuring out together. That being said – the organization and communication in first
semester needed work. The majority of the students taking these courses online are
working full time and need to manage their time very carefully in order to keep up
with the schoolwork. This means that *all* assignment and exam due dates need to
be announced ideally at the beginning of semester and written down on a schedule.
At the very least we need a month in advance notice. We were told in one course
that there would not be an exam, then told with only one week of notice that there
was in fact, an exam. A few of our projects/assignments were assigned last minute
(including this one) with vague instruction. It is unfortunately not enough to post
the assignment date on brightspace as often the dates are incorrect and the
formatting of the website is difficult to navigate – the homework/assignments need
to be discussed clearly in class and written down. Each course should have a clear
syllabus posted at the top of the page. The cost of this program is the same whether
it is online or in person and therefore care towards the online portion needs to be
increased to reduce the risk of our not being adequately prepared for the practical
portion next year. In addition, recordings of old zoom lectures in place of real
instruction are a challenging learning environment for us.
I think it is important to continue giving 10 minute breaks every hour because the
four hour classes, late in the evening, after everyone has worked all day, make
paying attention really difficult. The breaks really help us (me, anyway) absorb the
material and find renewed focus again. I admire the energy the instructors bring to
each class so much and am looking forward to next semester!