‘Vic Ready’ for anything: a unique community helps new grads tackle next steps with confidence

Jun 8, 2023

Students chat in a conference room as they enjoy a Vic Ready workshop. — *Vic Ready participants enjoy a session on how AI is impacting workplaces. All photos by Matt Volpe*

Just before Anisha Huq started her studies at the University of Toronto, COVID-19 turned the world upside down. For two years, she interacted with classmates largely online. “It was in Zoom and I didn’t see any faces,” she says. “It’s been isolating, and we’re still coping with a sense of uncertainty.”

The first cohort of pandemic students are graduating into a rapidly-changing, uncertain world—but Vic Ready, a program offered at U of T’s Victoria College, gives them confidence.

Offering students both individual career skill development and a network of peers, Vic Ready is about providing resources and empowering students to think creatively about their life trajectory. Through a combination of exercises, readings, coaching and community, Vic Ready participants build professional profiles and CVs, develop their career plan and narrative, learn financial literacy and communications skills, and grow a network.

“University is a major life transition,” says Rhonda McEwen (PhD 2010), president and vice-chancellor at Vic. “We design it to be a rich and broad experience, because learning who you are and how to reach your goals is as vital as earning your first credentials. Vic Ready is about much more than being workplace ready. It’s about launching into the world with confidence and intention.”

Vic Ready is about much more than being workplace ready. It’s about launching into the world with confidence and intention.

The Vic Ready program was founded in September 2019 in order to prepare students for a purposeful exit from undergraduate studies. Drawing on student surveys that indicated anxiety about their readiness for a rapidly-changing world, Dean of Students Kelley Castle, Associate Dean of Student Success Heidi Pepper-Coles, Registrar Yvette Ali, Executive Director, Alumni Affairs & Advancement Louise Yearwood and an alumni advisory committee developed Vic Ready to directly address students’ concerns and support their mental health.

Vic Ready is about much more than being workplace ready. It’s about launching into the world with confidence and intention.

“Mental health in university must be a primary institutional focus, especially post-pandemic,” says Castle. “Students’ mental wellness is done no favours if they are anxious about their futures. Vic Ready directly addresses both personal and career development needs, and in so doing, it tends to the integrated mental wellness of our students. Vic Ready helps students at every step. Getting ready for university, filling gaps and finding strengths through university, and getting ready for the world beyond.”

Being Vic Ready starts with exploration

Today, Huq is a third-year student of data analytics and economics. She came to U of T from Dhaka, Bangladesh, on a Faculty of Arts & Science International Scholar Award. “Data is currency in the world right now,” she says. “It’s so multi-faceted that you can always contribute to the greater good with it. And I love telling stories. I wanted to tell a story through the data and help aid the growth of my country.” In the long term this may mean a postgraduate degree, but in the short term she plans to find a full-time job after graduation to consolidate her finances.

There’s a community for exploration, because sometimes students don’t have a plan and that’s OK. You can have a period when you’re trying to find out what’s best for you.

Huq signed up for Vic Ready because she saw a session for careers in development. After completing VR1 modules in the summer—a series of practical workshops—she joined one of the VR2 communities. “They are focused on different aspects,” she explains. “There’s one for students who are interested in grad schools. One for careers. And there’s one for exploration, because, they say, sometimes students don’t have a plan and that’s OK as well. You can have a period when you’re trying to find out what’s best for you.”

“Going through university is navigational,” agrees Castle. “It includes navigating difficult academic material, new ways of thinking, new communities, and the vast number of possible futures each student has before them. We try to start students off with a supportive orientation, and then Vic Ready extends that support all the way through. We help students find agency in the middle of what may feel chaotic.”

There’s a community for exploration, because sometimes students don’t have a plan and that’s OK. You can have a period when you’re trying to find out what’s best for you.

Shaping your narrative, acquiring skills, and learning how to plan

Joy Ha is a fourth-year student in the chemical physics specialist program. Coming to Canada from Vietnam in Grade 11 to study, she completed high school in British Columbia before choosing U of T. Her short term next step is graduate school—she’s deciding between offers from UC Berkeley and the National University of Singapore—and in the long term she wants to combine science education with entrepreneurship. “I think about opening an educational institution in physical sciences,” she says. “To create opportunities that people in the developing world don’t have access to now.”

Ha participated in two VR2 components, one on postgraduate degrees and one on working professionally. “The first one gave me an idea of how to think about grad school and prepare my applications,” she says. “The second gave me communications skills and showed me how to network and interview for jobs. But both had so many meaningful opportunities embedded in them: how to set goals, for example. I felt the conversations helped me based on my specific needs.”

“I was inspired by the VR focus on shaping your narrative,” says Huq, “They made me feel comfortable talking about myself and feel it’s OK that you are your own advocate.”

Ha says the program was also especially helpful for mitigating the impact of COVID-19. As a chemistry student, she had to complete lab sessions mostly online for two years. “There was a lag,” she says. “We had to look for ways to fill that knowledge gap. Vic Ready helped students like me figure out how to recover from the pandemic.”

A community at your back

The program also features lunch-and-learn socials where students meet industry professionals—and compare notes on their progress. “At every networking event,” says Ha, “we developed a bond. I think that plays an important role in the success of a student because we come to university not only to learn knowledge, but to develop meaningful connection with the people around us.”

That community includes staff advisers and alumni mentors. “I had a wonderful mentor in Jordan LoMonaco (BSc 2018 VIC),” says Huq. “It was amazing because whatever I’m doing, Jordan did in her undergrad too. Kathy Vi Mac is my career adviser and she’s one of the coolest people I know. Steven Zantingh who leads the exploration community always listens to us. And Jasmine Biloki (BSc 2019 UTM) who leads the education community is helping students all the time.”

Vic Ready received generous startup support from alumni Margaret (Molly) Rundle (BSc 1985 VIC, MD 1989) and Stephen Lister (BA 1982 VIC), who donated $1.5 million to help launch the program in 2019. “We are truly thrilled to support such an important endeavour,” said Lister at the time. Added Rundle, “Especially for students commuting to campus who don’t have the opportunity for a residence experience, the Vic Ready program creates a wonderful place to make connections with other students and to feel a part of a community.”

Huq couldn’t agree more. “I really want to acknowledge that support. It always takes a community to get me to where I am going.”

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