Hello! I am a Vietnamese-Canadian, majoring in Children, Childhood and Youth Studies, minoring in English, and will be entering my first year of Concurrent Education this fall! As an aspiring educator, and being one of the firsts in my family to pursue an education, learning has always been a passion of mine and during my time in CCY, I was astonished by the lively atmosphere fostered by instructors and students. After finishing my undergrad, I am thankful for taking risks and for the support I received that allowed me to experiment with new ways of learning.

Summary of Research

During my time in the CCY program, I took CCY 4999: Research with Children and Young People: Honours Research Project. My research question was: “How do children and youth (ages 12-15) in the York Region participate in content creative culture on apps like TikTok and YouTube?” I conducted semi-structured group interviews and had my participants create cellphilms, which is an arts-based method where participants recorded video responses to interview questions. The prominent themes that emerged from my data were: ​​content creation is a (1) pursuit of passion; (2) an ongoing act of resistance and critique; (3) a source of confidence; and (4) a form of connection. What I enjoyed the most about conducting research was learning about research ethics and what fuels creativity in young people. I am proud to say that I received an A+ in CCY 4999!