Victoria Silman | News Editor
Featured image: Professor Andrea McKenzie (left) and Rachel Hershkop (right) are two of many inspiring women in the York community. | Courtesy of YFile and Rachel Hershkop
York has its fair share of alumnae that have gone on to do incredible things. Of course, there is academy award-nominated actor Rachel McAdams, a graduate from the theatre program. Then there is widely-known CTV news anchor Sandie Rinaldo, who graduated from the fine arts program, only to become one of the most successful TV journalists in the country. In her company is Lilly Singh, the psychology graduate who has gone on to become the first woman of colour and of the LGBTQ+ community to host a late night show on NBC. The Youtube star announced her accomplishment on Jimmy Fallon just last week. She later tweeted: “It’s official. Ya (sic) girl is getting her own NBC Late Night Show… A Little Late with Lilly Singh. Thank you so much for being here. I am truly so grateful.”
While we can boast about the accomplishments of those who have stretched far into Hollywood and the like, it’s important to recognize those still on campus doing incredible things. Here are some of these women.
ANDREA MCKENZIE
Andrea McKenzie is an associate professor in the writing and history departments at York. Throughout her career, she has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and New York University (NYU), and eventually made her way to York. McKenzie grew up in a small town, and says looking back, she never would have imagined her life would come this far.
“I would have to say one of my greatest accomplishments, and this is lifetime, is that I grew up in a small village in rural Ontario, and when I look back on my life, I never would have seen myself obtaining a PhD at the age of 40, or teaching at MIT, or NYU or YU. That would have been beyond my wildest dreams as a teenager,” she says.
“You have to understand that growing up in rural Ontario in the 1970s—and within the career that I had chosen throughout the 1980s—there were not a lot of female role models. There were maybe a handful of teachers in high school, but no women going off and getting PhDs. Certainly in my community the push was to get married and keep a good house, and so on. I was fortunate at the time to meet women who were cultured, and interested me in the world beyond the village and local community. I have met women like this along the way ever since,” McKenzie says.
McKenzie has published two books since 2016, both about incredible women who have inspired her. Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables, as well as Vera Brittain and Winifred Holtby, two British nurses who served during WWII were inspirations for her books, L.M. Montgomery and War, a series of essays about the author, as well as War-Torn Exchanges: The Lives and Letters of Nursing Sisters Laura Holland and Mildred Forbes, a series of letters from two Canadian nurses serving during the same war.
“I would have to say in those years of growing up in that village, Montgomery was a huge inspiration as she has been for many other women—especially her Emily of New Moon series. Montgomery herself, as we know, grew up in the even tinier village of Cavendish in PEI, and her voice is still heard internationally through her books and novels. She presented a picture of ‘you can be anything you want regardless of where you grew up and your circumstances. If you put your heart and energy into it and if you have the talent for it. I think that shows up in the Emily series and I think that’s why they inspire me,’” McKenzie says.
Furthermore, about her inspiration for War-Torn Exchanges, McKenzie adds: “Brittain and Holtby provided me with another inspiring example of women’s friendship—women who worked professionally, and who supported each other. They had very few role models in their day. Brittain’s experiences in the war led me to look into Canadian women’s experiences in the war, which further led me to Canadian nurses.”
While McKenzie’s life is full of many other accomplishments, the biggest one she mentions are her students. “My greatest accomplishments are my students and what they achieve. That is first-and-foremost, and that is an accomplishment that is spread out for years. That’s what makes me happiest,” she says.
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT CLUB
The Women Empowerment Club (WEC) has been dedicated to women’s empowerment at York since 2011. From then on, students involved have dedicated their time to spreading positivity, support, and inclusion for women on campus. Fourth-year professional writing and music student, Olivia Quenneville, is the club’s co-vice president. When she initially heard about the group, Quenneville was eager to join. “I thought it was a really great opportunity to get involved in something that I personally believe in and that I want to endorse to other people. I just really like what they stand for,” she says.
When asked about what the club stands for, Quenneville says it focuses on supporting women, though they don’t exclude men from getting involved in events around campus. “We’re just looking for people to support each other, especially in the female community, and get involved in the York community. We try to hold a lot of events, which are not necessarily women-based, because we do also want to invite males to participate. Women empowerment isn’t just about women supporting each other, it’s also about men supporting women and having everyone on an equal playing field,” she says. “We market our events to everyone because we want everyone to be happy, have a good time, and show support for each other, and respect each other. Those are the core values that we endorse in our club.”
Often collaborating with the Random Acts of Kindness club, WEC has put on many events throughout the year geared towards providing woman on campus support. Earlier in the year, they held a game night, organized a skating event at Nathan Phillips Square, and most recently put up a scavenger hunt on campus for International Women’s Day. “Just a couple weeks ago, for International Women’s Day, we did a bunch of pump-up events, so we were around campus selling popcorn, taking donations for local women’s shelters, a bake sale, a scavenger hunt with positive messages—we even hid chocolate bars with positive messages around campus,” Quenneville says.
Just this week, the WEC will be holding another event open to everyone. Held in Vari Hall A on March 22 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., the WEC will be hosting a movie night in collaboration with YU Salvation and the Random Acts of Kindness Club. While organizing these events may take up a considerable amount of time for the club members, Quenneville adds: “Now that I’m vice-president I feel like I have a lot more to take on, but I’m glad that I have the opportunity to represent a good cause in this role.”
RACHEL HERSHKOP
Fourth-year professional writing student, Rachel Hershkop, never imagined she would be given the opportunity of attending a highly competitive Masters program at UCLA. But now, as one of only 14 people accepted into the program, Hershkop realizes all her hard work has paid off.
“When I was starting my first semester, school was slapping me in the face with work, and I thought I should start looking into masters programs. I looked this one up, and realized I only had two weeks until the application deadline. Thankfully I got some support from my peers, and they edited my work,” she says.
“Something interesting happened the night it was due—it was due at midnight LA time, so 3 a.m. our time. About half an hour before the deadline, I decided I didn’t like the essay I wrote. I completely rewrote it to something bizarre and crazy. It was definitely a risk, but it was a risk that paid off. I felt that it was a better representation of me as a person, rather than a representation of my professional self.”
Growing up wasn’t the easiest for Hershkop. She describes herself as not part of the popular crowd, who faced bullying among other hardships. “I spent a year abroad, and though it was supposed to be something incredible, it ended up being something very destructive and toxic for me. I came back and started university, and I didn’t know who I was, or what I was doing, and it felt that just in terms of university and what career path I was going to take, there was nothing that hit me that I felt was practical. I’m artistic, and I love music and film, but that never hit me as something that would be a realistic job,” she says.
“I went through a very dark time in my life, and I know a lot of people go through depression. I went through times of depression where I didn’t know how I was going to move on from where I was, and I couldn’t see how I could ever do the things I wanted to do. I was incredibly unhappy and incredibly lost, but here I am years later,” she adds.
Of the women in her life, Hershkop says her sister has been one of her biggest inspirations. “My sister inspires me. She was very much a creative centre for me, especially growing up. We would play imaginary games together, and she really taught me to use my imagination and to believe in myself, and have my own power. She taught me that I have my own power.
“Now I see her in the world and she’s literally saving lives. She’s a nurse in Israel, and of course she takes care of Israeli patients, but she has also taken care of people who have done bad things, people who have stabbed people who live on her street. She has taken the love from her heart and said: ‘you know, even though these people have done evil things and hurt people dear to me, I’m going to help them and take care of them with everything I have,’” she says.
Hershkop also interned at Corus Entertainment in the Nelvana Animation Studio, where she was inspired to go into film-making. She says she saw the joy people bring to the world through creating entertainment, and she plans to do this same in her career.
“I want to bring goodness to the world and create role models that help people grow and help bring joy into the world,” she says, “I thought I was a mediocre person doing mediocre things, but if you stick to it, and work hard you can always do better and achieve greatness.”
