MSc graduate encourages students to reach out for support
Joyce Sarkis is a confident, personable and charming woman, but she explains that this positive outlook on life was something that had to be learned.
“It was a really difficult first semester when I began school here; I wanted to leave, and felt I didn’t have the skills to keep up my studies. Along the way though, I found my rhythm,” explains the MSc graduate.
Sarkis and her family arrived from Lebanon in 2008, settling in Montreal so she could pursue her studies at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business (JMSB). The move brought her to the other side of the world, and kick-started what was sure to be an exciting new experience.
“It was a transformational experience,” she explains. “Initially, I lacked the confidence to feel like I could achieve this for myself, but through the support of my family, and my thesis supervisor, Lea Katsanis, I started to see something in myself, which I didn’t know was there.”
She jumped in and took advantage of the services available to students at JMSB right away. She frequently consulted with JMSB’s Career Management Services, and very soon found herself working as one of their career ambassadors, wanting to share the skills she had learned with others.
“From the moment I met with a Concordia advisor, I realized how supportive the environment at this institution is. Apart from its heightened sense of community, I appreciate JMSB's diversity.”
Katsanis, who supervised Sarkis’ thesis, The Cognitive, Attitudinal, and Behavioural Responses of the Elderly to Print DTC Prescription Drug Advertising, always knew she had it in her. “‘I knew you had that spark’, is what she said to me at the end of my defence. It meant a lot that she believed in me.”
Sarkis explains that the intellectual, academic and emotional growth she has experienced over the last few years at JMSB is credited to a few very important people in her life. "I am very grateful to my parents for helping me learn how to confidently unfold my wings and fly, regardless of the weather and climate. And I am also very thankful to Dr. Katsanis, my thesis supervisor, for her constant support during my progressive ‘flight’ at JMSB."
When asked what wisdom she would share with students who find themselves in a similar experience as she, Sarkis says, “no matter how out of your element you feel, reach out for support, and even you will surprise yourself.”
Related links:
• Master of Science in Administration
• Career Management Services