Life After Mac: Real stories of alumni finding their way — Claudia
The stories submitted to the “Life After Mac” program reflect a diversity of experiences that are unique to each contributing grad. Some aspects of these stories can include sensitive and impactful experiences that community members have courageously chosen to share. If campus community members are impacted by the content because it resonates with their personal experience or that of someone they know, please do not hesitate to reach out for support. Content warning: Sexual assault.
Life does not end with trauma or tragedy but begins with a new foundation built upon resilience and individual strength.
This is the lesson I learned from McMaster, which I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
In 2006, I was a first-year student living on Mac’s campus, excited about this new chapter that was about to begin in my life. As someone who was born at McMaster hospital, it felt like a serendipitous full-circle.
In November of 2006, I was sexually assaulted in off-campus housing by another McMaster student.
Being a victim of sexual assault was not something that Frosh Week ever prepared me for. I didn’t even know that what happened to me was called sexual assault until many years later when someone made an inappropriate joke and I had a panic attack.
I don’t blame McMaster for what happened to me just down the street from their campus. In fact, I think McMaster allowed me to build a foundation of self-assurance, strength, and independence that made me who I am today. Despite my trauma, I continued to discover who I was, my passions, my dreams, and eventually became the kind of strong-willed woman who would never let a single challenge or factor of doubt stand in the way of her goals and her success.
I graduated from McMaster in 2010 with a Double Major with Honours in English and Philosophy and took this degree with me to study to become an educator. My educational strengths and the lessons of mental fortitude that I had learned quickly got me a career in education.
Having fallen in love with Hamilton following my four years at Mac, I stayed in the city. It ended up being where I bought my first home at 24-years-old — another dream that I realized — following my very quick full-time employment.
I eventually had a new goal in sight: Special Education. The focused and driven mentality that I developed on Mac soil led me to also achieve that dream of mine. I worked in a self-contained Gifted classroom for four years before working one-on-one with an expelled student, and then was promoted to Special Education Resource Teacher; an administrative role that I had been longing for.
But at the back of all that, I was dreaming of something even bigger. I wanted to be a writer in Paris, France, the city of my dreams and the city of many inspirational authors. Many told me it was a pipe-dream, too difficult, or too challenging for a single young woman. But if Mac taught me anything, it was that I was stronger than I looked, I could overcome any difficulties with my head held high, and I feared nothing.
So, after eight years of dreaming, I sent in my resignation letter, put my house up for sale, sold most of my belongings, and got on a plane to Paris. Two months later I met my soulmate who is now my husband. And guess what I’m doing for a living? Writing.
The one thing my parents dreaded when they dropped me off on campus to live happened. And while many people apologize for what happened to me, I am living in a dream today and would not change a moment of my past.
My traumatic experience and my subsequent years at McMaster are not a smear on my past, but evidence of just how strong, fearless, determined, and unrelenting my spirit truly was. I didn’t let this moment define me, but I chose to rise above it just to emphasize that despite one person trying to silence me and push me down into a box of brokenness, my time at Mac gave me the spark needed to help me grow wings and fly.
My wings were born at McMaster, and now I’m never coming down.
Claudia Amendola
Hons. BA ’10 (English and Philosophy)
