If you’ve been to campus recently, you’ve probably come across Community Engagement Day promotions, or maybe you even saw the tent on the Lower Field on October 5th. Maybe you even bothered to look into it; heck, you could have even registered to participate.

So what did Community Engagement Day (CED) mean for the students involved, for the community organizations, for McGill, as an institution? What does it mean—for a school so focused on academics—to have an entire day dedicated to the importance of the Community Engagement? Was it simply a passive way to fulfill McGill’s social responsibility and community engagement agenda? I like to think that it was more than a formality. I like to think that McGill has finally begun to understand that in today’s society, integration with community is just as important as academic achievements, as entrepreneurial success, as scientific progress—because without community, all those things are rendered meaningless.

A ‘well-rounded’ individual is no longer just a grad school requirement—it has become a very basic expectation, and community service is perhaps the easiest and the most rewarding way to fulfill it.

I’d like to think that there is a culture shift at McGill, whereby students are taught to appreciate social sustainability, and are encouraged to be proactive in their education. I’d like to think that a few hours at a local shelter, or a day spent cleaning up one’s neighbourhood can be seen to be just as resourceful as a blackboard or a projector screen at the front of a classroom. Moreover, I’d hope that this alternative—community education—could receive even a fraction of the recognition attributed to formal education.

I know I didn’t come to university expecting to learn everything from behind the desk. I came to learn by doing. Community Engagement Day has allowed me to do just that, in more engaging and rewarding ways than this letter can express. If you didn’t take part in CED, the world didn’t end. But it didn’t get any better either.  So get involved, change your views, and allow yourself to accept challenges and risks that will enrich your university experience. Stop fooling yourself into thinking these things don’t matter, or you’ll break your leg kicking yourself later.