Sept. 20, 2017

Caribbean hurricanes bring familiar challenges for Werklund alumna

Francisca Kirkland contended with power shortages as she took courses and developed an online bond with classmates

The islands of the Caribbean have been thrust into the news in recent weeks as they contend with hurricane after hurricane pounding their shores. In the aftermath, citizens of these tiny jewels of land have been left without electricity, food, and in extreme cases, safe shelter from the elements.

It’s not the first time they’ve been hit by the late summer weather, and it certainly won’t be the last.

Francisca Kirkland, MEd'17, remembers well a similar storm in 2008, when another large hurricane swept across the Turks and Caicos, leaving in its wake a trail of destruction.

Kirkland had just begun her graduate studies at the University of Calgary's Werklund School of Education in early 2009, and full power had yet to be restored months after the big storm. In order to participate in her online course, she had to find an Internet signal, and there were very, very few places on the islands where this could be done.

She found herself in the town square in Grand Turk, sitting underneath one of the few standing telephone poles on the island, where she picked up spotty Internet access and participated in her course.

She says she was committed to the class because of the bond created by the instructors and students in her MEd in Learning Technologies courses at UCalgary.

“I remember meeting with my teammates online using Yahoo Messenger or on Elluminate Live just to complete our group assignments,” explains Kirkland, who hails from Jamaica, but who had been teaching in Turks and Caicos at the time. “I would have to get up some early hours in the morning, because some of my teammates were in different time zones, such as Japan or different provinces within Canada.”

“I found that even though we were from different countries, our online bond made us felt like we were one."

Kirkland says she chose the Werklund School of Education as a place to upgrade herself professionally and intellectually, in part because she was looking for an international perspective and experience. She was limited because of her location, so she began to research North American institutions offering programs online. She came across Calgary, a city not unknown to her, at least by name.

“After reading about the university I realized my Jamaican connection, because that was where our Jamaican bobsled team participated in the Olympics,” she recalls. “After looking at the programs and learning more about the city, I fell in love with University of Calgary.”

Kirkland completed her degree late last summer, following some job changes and financial challenges. It took close to seven years, yet Kirkland has a message to anyone thinking about following her path: “I would encourage every person to dare to dream, but to wake up after dreaming and put a plan into reality.”

Words from someone who has truly weathered the storm.