Ryerson Alumni - Winter 2018 - 15

W

hen Tali Ajimal applied to study at
Ryerson University, she was living
at a shelter, working several jobs,
and carrying the trauma of abuse.
She didn't get in.
It's easy to imagine what could have happened to her. "She would have gotten a job
and tried to survive," says O'neil Edwards,
program director at Spanning the Gaps -
Access to Post-Secondary Education. It
would have been almost impossible to find
the time to upgrade her courses, and her
university dream would have ended there.
So Edwards picked up the phone.
Ajimal remembers that phone call well.
"He said, 'I have good news and I have bad
news.' The bad news was that I didn't get
into my program. The good news was that
I qualified for a new program that I could
start in September."
Ten years ago, Ajimal joined the first
cohort of Bridges to Ryerson, one of the
programs offered by Spanning the Gaps, a
Ryerson University initiative designed to
reach out to communities that are underrepresented in the university. Founded on the
belief that education can help break cycles
of inter-generational poverty and social
exclusion, Spanning the Gaps is one of the
ways Ryerson is working with the community beyond the campus.
Each year, the Bridges to Ryerson program welcomes 70 students. On a part-time
basis through Ryerson's G. Raymond Chang
School of Continuing Education, the students complete three or more courses in
foundational writing, reasoning and math
skills they'll need to succeed in university.
Meanwhile, Edwards's team provides fullon, holistic support to help students stick to
their goal.
Students are exposed to different learning strategies and, for those who have a
learning disability, a specialized instructor
shares tactics that have been shown to
work. Often, they're getting the one-on-one
encouragement and mentorship that they
didn't receive in high school. The courses
build in difficulty and intensity over the
year, explains Janice Pinto, case co-ordinator for Spanning the Gaps. "The students
Winter 2018 / Ryerson University Magazine

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ryerson Alumni - Winter 2018

Table of Contents
Ryerson Alumni - Winter 2018 - Cover1
Ryerson Alumni - Winter 2018 - Cover2
Ryerson Alumni - Winter 2018 - Table of Contents
Ryerson Alumni - Winter 2018 - 2
Ryerson Alumni - Winter 2018 - 3
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