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Over the past few years, the Geography Graduate Association (GGA) has been reintroducing in-person events and seeking to build community. In the Fall of 2023, we hosted the first grad retreat since before the pandemic with a small group heading to Whistler for a weekend of hiking and good cheer. Most recently we hosted an informal Spring Social event on campus – a much-needed break from end of term grading for many of us! We are also coming up on the second iteration of an academic publishing workshop where we will hear from a multidisciplinary panel of department faculty on opportunities and potential challenges in publishing, the 2023 version of which was highly informative and well received.

In addition to the great work of our Social Chair and Event Committees, our members have made significant positive contributions to the grad student experiences within the department and across campus. Our reps have been essential liaisons and advocates for both geography students, and graduate students more broadly. This includes participation on the Graduate Student Society, sharing student experiences with the Field Safety Advisory Committee, and supporting the monumental TSSU campaign to secure a collective agreement for RAs after six long years.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most in my time with the GGA is the opportunity to connect with students across the many disciplines within geography and to build a shared identity as both geographers and graduate students. It’s through these connections that I’ve come to know that SFU Geography means so many different things to different people yet the common commitment to better understanding the world around us is maintained. Connections across the department can be as simple as shared conversations about local transit and public infrastructure or spatial distributions of communities. Other times our members create deliberate opportunities for the exchange of ideas, whether that’s with fellow grad students through the SFU-UBC interdepartmental geography meetups co-organized by Stella Harden, or with high school students in Coquitlam, who Tiana Andjelic and Krista Macaulay will be encouraging to think spatially about the ways in which they interact with food.

We are grateful for all the graduate students who have attended GGA meetings this year and have contributed to our increased attendance. We hope to continue to create space for students to connect and to continue to work with, and for, all SFU Geography Graduate students.

Lucy Burns, GGA President