Delivering Public Health and Building Community: How Renée is Giving Back
June 28, 2024
While using her health and nursing background to give back to the communities she lives and works in, this year’s Gold Medal Award winner is going the extra mile to meet the needs of an underserved part of the population.
Renée Benjamin, RN, BScN, is a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University’s Nursing program and recently completed a Proficiency in French certificate at The Chang School. She is helping to bridge a critical gap in healthcare access by using her written and spoken French skills to communicate public health information to Francophone school communities in the Region of Peel, where she works as a public health nurse.
For her contributions to this community, Renée was awarded the TMU Gold Medal at The Chang School’s Spring 2024 convocation ceremony.
The medal is the university's highest award, presented to students with exceptional academic achievement combined with extraordinary contributions to the life of the university, their professional community, and/or the community at large. Nominees must have demonstrated outstanding involvement with the university, their profession, and/or the community (extracurricular, voluntary and unpaid activities that benefit a broader community), as well as a leadership role beyond the faculty level.
Renée Benjamin accepting the Gold Medal Award at Convocation from TMU President and Vice Chancellor, Mohammed Lachemi
We caught up with Renée to discuss what winning the award means to her and how she plans to continue her important work.
The Chang School: What does being a Gold Medal Award recipient mean to you?
Renée Benjamin: It’s an honour – I have always been one to strive for academic excellence. I also have been serving both my school community and the other communities, which I love to do and am passionate about. All the hard work that I've done and the dedication I put into the various aspects of my life is being recognized and while I don't do it for the recognition, it’s nice to know that there are such avenues that congratulate or highlight people in these certain ways.
CS: Why was it important to you to study French?
RB: The reason why I studied French is because Francophone school boards, especially those in Ontario, which is predominantly English-speaking, are often not given a lot of resources. The certificate allowed me to develop confidence in my written and spoken French so that I can deliver information to members of the school community in Francophone school boards.
Prior to university, I completed a mixture of Francophone and French immersion education in my elementary years. In secondary school, I went to English schools but did core French classes. It’s always been a goal of mine to have certification in recognition of my French language skills.
CS: Why did you choose The Chang School?
RB: I took French courses as part of my undergraduate degree in upper-level electives at TMU so I already knew that some of the instructors would be the same for the certificate, which made me feel comfortable as I was already familiar with them. I’m happy to have chosen The Chang School as a continuation of my education at TMU.
The Chang School also offered me the flexibility to learn while I was working full-time with the online option in the evening, which was very convenient.
CS: What are your career prospects like after obtaining your certificate?
RB: Now that my school health team has myself and another individual who speaks French, we’ve created a partnership with the Francophone schools in Peel Region to introduce programs that weren’t available before due to a lack of resources. These include programs related to mental health and daily physical activity.
CS: How does your job align with your career and personal goals?
RB: I find joy in being part of public health mainly because I get to do health promotion In public health, I’m doing an ‘upstream approach’ in terms of the health promotion aspect in that it's more proactive than reactive. I feel like I’m making a huge difference when it comes to simple things like educating students about healthy eating or more complex issues like coping with stress for their mental well-being.
Outside of work, I have also volunteered at different retreats hosted through my church where my health and nursing background came in handy and allowed me to help with hydrotherapy sessions. It’s such a privilege to provide my health knowledge and caring personality to different communities.
CS: Finally, what’s one piece of advice you would give to future Chang School learners?
RB: We are made to be lifelong learners and we shouldn’t let life’s obstacles deter us from achieving that. I would advise future Chang School learners to take advantage of the services offered, like tutors, financial support, or career advice. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you’re feeling overwhelmed.
