From facing obstacles to overcoming them: Geneviève
Architectural technician student Geneviève Routhier has faced so many obstacles to post-secondary success — an abusive home life, bad relationships, a workplace injury, a mouldy living space and a struggle with mental health — that COVID nearly pushed her over the edge.
The 24-year-old, who grew up in Casselman, Ont., east of Ottawa, left her job as a team leader at an Ottawa dollar store just as COVID hit in 2020, her back injury leaving her unable to work. She decided education, or “using her brain,” as she puts it, was the right next move.
Above: Geneviève Routhier explains the difference a bursary made to her.
But she still needed an income, and she could only find part-time work, which didn’t provide enough to live on. Even worse, it was difficult to make it to work every day because she was so sick from the injury and the mould. She says she was having panic attacks and migraines that affected her spine and her vision. Riding a bus would make her nauseous.
Receiving a bursary quite literally put food on the table — and ensured she stayed in school.
“Because of the bursary, I could afford to buy myself groceries and afford rent,” she says. “Not having to worry about finances helped me focus on my schooling and myself. It made a big difference, especially in the middle COVID when prices were jacked up and you couldn’t find proper decent work.
“I had no other support anywhere else. My family wasn’t there for me.”
Even small bursaries make a big difference to struggling students when the bills just keep coming, says Routhier. Utilities, internet, schoolbooks all add up, not to mention the unexpected. Routhier needs to replace her computer, which is just not in the budget. She’s “babying” it instead — a strategy that’s working, at least for now.
Routhier, who receives Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) grants and loans — though not nearly enough to cover costs — and completed a paid coop terms with Library and Archives Canada over the summer, says she still needs to work this term to make ends meet. Library and Archives Canada hired her into a position that gives her 20 hours a week.
Her circumstances, including paying out-of-pocket for physiotherapy, also forced her into debt, and her job is helping her dig her way out. She wants to start building for the future, and imagines joining the public service on a full-time basis after graduation.
Until then, she’s focused on completing the two-year architectural technical program in 2023 and doing a third year that will give her an architectural technologist designation the following year.
Routhier’s program is intense and requires all the focus and energy she can apply. Her bursary donor helped her to focus on her mental health, ensuring she could continue her quest to transform her hopes and dreams into lifelong success.
“There’s a lot to do in my program. It is intense. It is heavy. Having help made sure I could focus on myself and just get started.”
You can help more students like Geneviève with your Giving Tuesday donation! Every dollar you give from Nov. 24 to Nov. 28 will be matched to double your impact, on a first-come, first-served basis.