Steinbach Online: Alumna Meets With Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Steinbach Online reports on U of M alumna Tricia Wachtendorf [BA(Adv.)/1996]:

A 1990 Niverville Collegiate Institute graduate says to not be limited by the immediate opportunities around you.

Tricia Wachtendorf is a director at the University of Delaware Disaster Research Centre and was recently able to meet with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in regards to crisis response and community impact.

Wachtendorf says, growing up, she was interested in issues having to do with social justice and it was while attending the University of Manitoba she stumbled upon a course about the psychology of women. She notes halfway through the semester the professor went to Uganda and her work focused on women, children, and HIV/AIDS. Wachtendorf says she became very interested in that line of work and began taking courses which led her to the Disaster Research Centre.

“When I was in high school I certainly had no idea there was a field of disaster science. I didn’t know about programs that were out there. It’s a matter of taking advantage of different opportunities to stretch your mind and your outlook. Thinking about university, for me to take a range of classes and stumble upon a class that really seemed to resonate, to get insights from people who were working in different community environments, doing that harm reduction, those were things that really informed my outlook. I think as you become exposed to people who have a new way of looking at things, who have a new idea that builds into your overall outlook, that might give you ideas on how you can really push forward.”

Read the full story here.