Robert Perrier

As a Lakehead graduate of the Concurrent Education program (BA/BEd ’03), Robert has taken his passion for teaching and applied it to helping students succeed at Lakehead University. After spending 11 years as Lakehead's Manager of Undergraduate Recruitment - recruiting students from across Canada, coordinating on-campus and off-campus events, publications, and much more - Robert recently became the Director of Lakehead's Student Success Centre (SSC). The SSC has the sole focus of helping students achieve success, offering programming and supports in the areas of New Student Orientation and First Year Experience, Co-Curricular Record, Academic Success Support & Planning, Career Services, Co-Op Education, Peer Tutoring, Student Leadership, and operates the Lakehead University Writing Centre.

 

Outside of work, Robert is an active musician and performer appearing in a number of musical, theatrical, and concert productions. If Robert looks familiar, you may have seen him on 2005’s Canadian Idol as one of Canada’s Top 100 Performers.

 

When I was trying to pick a university, I realized that I really wanted a small school experience. I loved the fact that I could get to know my professors and that I could have classes with only 25 – 30 students in a class or less. When I started at Lakehead, I was shocked that within a month of being there I knew all my professors by their first name and they knew me! Also, I liked the fact that we were really encouraged to have a voice and express ourselves in our classes. With my small classes, we were able to have some amazing discussions and debates – something I really value to this day whenever I need to defend myself.

 

My fondest memory has got to be the people I met over the years at Lakehead. My favourite class was ‘African American Literature’ taught by Dr. Bill Heath. The class was completely student directed – Bill would assign readings for the class and then open the class with a question. The entire 1 ½ hour of class was a massive discussion on the issues, topics, and characters found in the stories we were reading. Wherever we went with our talk was up to us and Bill acted more as a guide. As we explored these amazing pieces of literature it truly was a student-centred learning experience.

 

My favourite hangout was definitely the Outpost. It was a great place to hangout with friends, grab a bite to eat and just talk about life – and we did some studying as well. :o)

 

Definitely the library on the third or fourth floor in the individual study carousels. Nice and quiet and some great views of the campus.

 

While I had many memorable professors, my ‘most’ memorable has to be Dr. Wendy Huang who taught us first-year Calculus. The class was 8:30 am – 9:30 am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays – so it was a tough way to start the day. She always had a way to wake us up, often with a funny story or joke and get us motivated to learn.

 

In my first year English class, I had been up late studying the night before, and I fell asleep in class. My professor called out my name in class and woke me up – I was mortified. It was my first and only time that I’ve ever fallen asleep in a class.

 

My greatest accomplishment was when I was doing my teaching placements and I was teaching a grade 7 class about Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement. I learned that day what teachers call a ‘teachable moment’ as my 30 minute lesson turned into a 1 ½ hour class discussion covering everything from the Civil Rights movement to racism and diversity. It was an amazing day and a truly inspiring moment as a new teacher in training.

 

By far my Lakehead degree has taught me that there is a whole world of knowledge out there and that I have the ability to continue learning beyond my years at university. I’ve also learned how to be a critical thinker and to defend my opinions, a skill that I will be able to use in both my career and personal life. Lastly, I think that Lakehead really taught me that if I set my mind on something, I can achieve anything.