Looking back, I see that I’ve written five articles about McGill University, a university that holds a significant place in my life. I recommend you read these articles. In honor of its Bicentennial, I’m sharing the links and summaries of their content below:
https://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/ufuk-acan-bir-deneyim-mcgill-yillarim
I’m sharing my story of getting accepted to McGill University and what the university has taught me. My loyal followers may remember that my application to McGill University was initially rejected, but I was accepted after traveling to Canada and catching a mistake during the interview at the admissions office. I recommend reading this fascinating article.
https://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/mcgill-unluleri-ve-yer-altindan-notlar
I wrote about the activities of the McGill Alumni Association and the famous individuals who graduated from the university. I also added local information about Montreal. Its alma mater has quite a few world shakers and movers! I’m proud of my university. Looking back, the person who gets the most publicity is Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a McGill graduate whom I consider one of us.
https://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/kanada-universiteleri-neden-tercih-ediliyor
I wrote about my interview for Canada Education Week and my visit with former Canadian Consul General Ulric Shannon at the event. Finally, I listed the reasons why Canadian universities are preferred. Greetings to my dear friend Ulric Shannon. He is continuing his duties in Iraq to the best of his ability after being promoted to ambassador.
https://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/bir-haftada-iki-kitada-ulkemi-temsil-etme-onuru
Here, I write about the panel I attended and the speech I gave at the Global Foodbanking Network’s annual event in London, and how I moved to Montreal immediately afterward. I also explain how I decided to enter civil society through an experience I had in Montreal just before university. I also touch on my jury service and mentorship at the Dobson Cup, an entrepreneurship competition held among McGill students, as well as the solar energy course I taught in the graduate courses Managing Strategy and Innovation and the undergraduate courses Strategic Management. I shared our strategy at EkoRE with them. In the final section, I recount my visit to the Canadian solar-powered Targray and Montreal food bank. Looking back at this article, I realized I’d covered so many topics in one article. This could have spawned five articles. Enjoy! From now on, I promise to be more concise and focused on the topic.
https://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/universitem-mcgillde-iklim-kriziyle-ilgili-yaptigim-konusma
In this article I wrote last month, I share the content of the speech I gave at the online conference entitled The Climate Crisis and What Needs to Be Done? at McGill University. It was a good thing that I delivered this speech in the month of COP26. I’ve been vocally voicing this content everywhere for about 10 years. It’s only recently that everyone has started to listen. McGill University is an exception here. My university has always been sensitive to the climate crisis. We were discussing this issue at the university where I studied between 1995 and 1999, back then. To help you visualize, you can even see McGill University’s newly launched ‘Made by McGill’ campaign addressing the climate crisis:
Speaking of the ‘Made by McGill’ campaign, I’d like to share the campaign’s anthem, which personally inspired me (those who know me will understand what I mean after watching this video):
After sharing these beautiful videos with you, I’d like to share the campaign’s visual:
You can also read the stories of McGill alumni at https://giving.mcgill.ca/get-involved/made-mcgill-stories .
A Tournament Memory That Still Pulls Heartstrings
In light of all this, I’d like to share another memory for the Bicentennial. It’s a topic that holds a special place in my heart.
McGill University has always placed a strong emphasis on athletic activities. Varsity tournaments, tournaments held within the university in various sports, are held. The most popular of these is soccer. During my time at a massive university with approximately 35,000 students, you can imagine that hundreds of soccer teams were formed and competing in the tournament. I don’t remember how I got involved, but I joined the Latin American team because I loved playing soccer. I think I met some Latin American students in the gym during our after-school games. Because we all had Mediterranean blood, we bonded immediately.
Our team had some very good players, and I played well at the time. We were beating everyone in sight. I don’t remember how many matches we played over the course of a year, but I can easily say we played dozens and won them all. Finally, we made it to the quarterfinals against hundreds of teams. The quarterfinals and beyond had a significant feature. Matches, normally played in the gym, were then played at McGill University’s stadium, where the tournament continued. There were also a large crowd in the stadium, and frankly, that really got me pumped. I was putting in extra effort, eager to show the crowd something good. We made it through the quarterfinals and semifinals without any difficulty. After over 40 matches in the year-long tournament, we were finally at the end. In the final, we faced a European team. The Germans, French, Italians, and Spanish were all playing on the same team. I was on the opposing team, along with my Latino brothers.
The unfortunate goal that never came
I can say we crushed the opposing team throughout the match. We all wanted to win, but we couldn’t score. Even though I was right-footed, I was playing on the left wing (I also used my left foot, but it wasn’t as good as my right). I missed two scoring chances throughout the game, one on one with the goalkeeper. I was devastated every time the team conceded a goal, including one from my own. I don’t know if it was the excitement or what, but that goal never came. After conceding so many goals, everyone expected the match to go to penalties. However, the match suddenly took a different turn. With the game entering the last two minutes, the opposing team won a corner kick during one of their rare attacks. In my opinion, it wasn’t even an attack. The entire team quickly entered our penalty area and took the corner. This was clearly their tactic. The tallest player on the pitch was a Frenchman, 1.90 meters tall. I remember there was a Brazilian in our team, 1.85 meters tall. Just as he was taking the corner, I called out to him, “You hold that Frenchman over there; he’s tall; let’s not concede a goal with a header.”
The tall Frenchman’s tower header!
Before our Brazilian understood what I was saying and could respond, the European team took the corner. Since it was all over, I immediately went to hold the Frenchman. But because there was a significant height difference, he headed the ball over me and scored. I wasn’t playing defense, so I came to help the defense anyway, but the fact that the Frenchman headed the ball over me and scored with two minutes left, and that we lost the championship, has stuck with me for years.
Nevertheless, everyone congratulated each other in a gentlemanly manner at the medal ceremony after the tournament. The atmosphere was wonderful. Because we unfortunately lost the tournament, even the entire crowd, including the opposing team, treated us like champions. It was wonderful. I wanted to share this memory with you so you can visualize the wonderful atmosphere of McGill University. Incidentally, I remember that a significant portion of our team was from our Faculty of Management. In memory of this, I’d like to share a visual of our Faculty of Business Administration:
You can also find information about the Faculty of Business at https://200.mcgill.ca/faculties/management/ .
Academic Information About McGill
For those unfamiliar with McGill University, often described by the academic world as Canada’s Harvard, I’d like to briefly introduce it. I’m sharing it with you, translating verbatim from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGill_University ):
“McGill University is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by a royal charter granted by King George IV, the university bears the name of James McGill, a Scottish merchant whose will in 1813 established McGill College, the forerunner of the university. The institution’s name was officially changed to McGill University in 1885. McGill’s main campus is located on the slopes of Mount Royal in the Ville-Marie district of Montreal’s city center. The institution’s second campus is located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, also on the island of Montreal, 30 km south of the main campus. Along with the University of Toronto, McGill is one of only two universities outside the United States to be members of the Association of American Universities and the only Canadian member of the Global University Leaders Forum within the World Economic Forum.
McGill boasts Canada’s highest average entrance exam score and offers undergraduate and diploma programs in over 300 fields. Most of the students study in the institution’s six major faculties: Arts, Sciences, Medicine, Education, Engineering, and Business. With 32.2% of its international students from over 150 countries, McGill boasts the highest international diversity of medical programs in the country. Furthermore, 41% of its students are born outside Canada. McGill is ranked among the world’s top universities by leading education publications and has held the top spot in the Maclean’s Canadian University Rankings for the past 16 years.
McGill’s alumni and faculty include 12 Nobel Prize winners and 147 Rhodes Scholars, a higher percentage than any other university in Canada. They also include 16 billionaires, three Canadian prime ministers (one current and two former), three Canadian governors general, 15 Supreme Court of Canada justices, at least eight foreign leaders, and over 100 members of national parliaments. The university’s alumni include eight Academy Awards, ten Grammy Awards, 13 Emmy Awards, and four Pulitzer Prize winners, as well as 35 Olympic medalists and 121 Olympic participants. In addition to the creators of basketball and modern ice hockey, and the pioneers of North American football, the university’s alumni include the founders of several major universities. Ernest Rutherford, who discovered the atomic nucleus and, while working as a professor of experimental physics at the university, conducted research on the nature of radioactivity that would lead to his Nobel Prize, is among the most prominent names. Among the inventions of McGill alumni are the world’s first artificial cell, the first web search engine, and the first charge-coupled device (CCD chip).
McGill boasts the highest donation per student in Canada. In 2019, the McCall MacBain Scholarship program was established with $200 million, the largest individual philanthropic donation in Canadian history.”
Having shared all this with you, I’d like to share a photo from my graduation ceremony, which holds a special place in my heart.
“Grandescunt Aucta Labore”
Now, do you understand why I’m so proud of my university? In a bilingual environment, classes are taught in English, but you can use French in exams if requested. If you were in a class of 100 students, at least 20 languages were spoken. Our university, with its truly international atmosphere, deserves its reputation in every sense. Frankly, as a proud McGill graduate, I want to make a name for myself in the history of my university, which I believe has given me so much, both through my work and through my contributions to the university’s sustainability efforts. To this end, I’m applying the most fundamental principle I learned at university: “Grandescunt Aucta Labore” (Everything Develops and Grows Through Hard Work). Along with hard work, I incorporate my own vision, which I’m recording here.
Having shared all this with you, I once again congratulate McGill University on its Bicentennial and wish it many more celebrations.
Tag: education
