One of the most meaningful aspects of my experiential learning in this program came through assignments that allowed me to connect academic concepts with my own lived experiences. Rather than simply learning through readings or lectures, these moments required me to engage more personally and reflectively with the material.
One of the moments that stood out the most for me was the mapping project. Creating my own map based on places that have been significant in my life made me pause and reflect on memories and experiences that I had not thought about in a long time. As I worked through the assignment, I realized that mapping was not just about geography or location. It was about storytelling, identity, and the relationships we form with the spaces around us.
The process felt deeply personal and meaningful. Each place I included carried its own story, and putting them together allowed me to see connections I had not fully recognized before. It made me think more critically about what “place” really means not just as a physical location, but as something shaped by memory, experience, and emotion.
Presenting the map to the class made the experience even more powerful. Sharing something so personal in an academic setting felt vulnerable at first, but it also created a space for connection. Hearing others shares their own maps and stories reminded me that while our experiences are different, there are also shared feelings of belonging, displacement, and identity that connect us.
This assignment also connected to broader ideas we explored in the program, such as land, identity, and settler colonialism. It helped me understand that our relationships to land are not neutral they are shaped by history, power, and lived experience. In this way, the mapping project went beyond being a creative exercise, it became a way of engaging more deeply with complex social and historical issues.
Even now, I still have the map I created, and it continues to remind me of that experience. It represents not only my personal journey, but also my growth throughout the program. This moment of experiential learning showed me the value of slowing down, reflecting, and making space for personal connections within academic work. It is something that has stayed with me and continues to shape how I think about learning, identity, and my place in the world.