The End!

This was my last, last week of classes after six years at the University of Toronto. When I submit my final assignment for this course, I am done my master’s degree. Tying up all my loose ends has been a little surreal. As someone who dove straight into a master’s degree straight out of undergrad, I finally see myself staring down the precipice of adulthood as *gasp* not in school. Getting COVID my last week of classes was a bit ironic as well, since I capped out my pandemic degree after contracting the virus that’s marked so much of my life in the last two years.

I am very grateful for all I’ve learned in these years, and can’t wait to apply it in the real world. As someone who once imagined myself working in the realm of “ideas” rather than in their application, this transition is particularly exciting.

As a Canadian that grew up in New Hampshire, I arrived in Toronto in 2016 with very little knowledge of the city. However, I have completely fallen in love with the city and the country. Attending the Munk School for my degree was really my stepping stone towards working in policy in Canada, and wanting to put work into the place I’ve come to love so much.

I learned a lot of valuable lessons in this course, and really appreciated the thorny dives we took into mapping out making change at the extreme-micro level. As this was missing in a lot of my other coursework, I found it worthwhile. I additionally appreciated the walks we took in the city as well, and getting to engage with people who both made changes in policy and are affected by them.

The best parts of getting a degree at the University of Toronto is honestly living in this city, and I always used to tell my friends and family that the most valuable lessons I learned in undergrad were my times outside of the classroom rather than in it. This class always understood that instinct, and I was grateful to have played a role in it.

Thanks for everything, signing off now, do keep in touch! I would love to continue to hear from you all.

Best wishes,

Padraic