The Planned Happenstance Project

students with folders walking in park.

Going easy on me, myself and I

We’re entering 2022 with another transition. Returning to classes on campus. Returning to working in person. Returning to social gatherings. I’m...

Zuzanna Wolos

Let’s chat about resilience: Responsibilities, relaxation and realistic thinking

What does resilience mean to you? Resilience, to me, means staying true to your feelings and working with them accordingly....

Ashley Huang

Let’s chat about resilience: Program decisions, planning and pandemic pets

What does resilience mean to you? To me, resilience means never giving up. Not giving up when things get hard,...

String mural by Brittany Forrest in L.R. Wilson Hall. Text reads "you are here."

It’s okay (and helpful) to talk about failure

Failure and setbacks impact us all. Resilience is what happens when we keep going in spite of these challenges.

Trees on campus during fall. Sun shining through leaves.

It’s possible

The Canadian Career Development Foundation’s Career Month theme this year is all about the fact that it’s possible, whatever "it"...

Navigate your career model: develop, reflect, explore, connect

Five key traits to help navigate your career

The excitement and hopefulness of planning your career are often combined with the stress of uncertainty of what’s ahead. Forecasting...

Barkhaa Talat

The Planned Happenstance Project: Barkhaa Talat

Many people do not want to think about the possibility of not getting the acceptance they want or having their...

Fabiha headshot

The Planned Happenstance Project: Fabiha Faiza Islam

The language was never a barrier, but transitioning was difficult... In the end, I realized that cultural differences exist, but...

Olamide

The Planned Happenstance Project: Olamide Ilori

I realized that the university curriculum is very different from that of high school and to succeed I must change...

Ananya

The Planned Happenstance Project: Ananya Sharma

At the end of the day, you have to try. I know it’s so much easier to say than do...

Asma in MDCL

The Planned Happenstance Project: Asma Maqsood

When I was in my first year, I took a mandatory cell biology class. Although I had been a good...

Sharif next to the Engineering ring at McMaster

The Planned Happenstance Project: Sharif Mohammad

There is a policy in my home university where they hire the top one student in the department as a...

Morgan headshot

The Planned Happenstance Project: Morgan Martin

My barrier at times has been myself and not believing in myself – I think it’s the biggest barrier you...

Headshot of Reta in a classroom

The Planned Happenstance Project: Reta Meng

I’ve heard of this saying where it’s like, it’s not the fact that you think about the future that makes...

Collage of students who participated in the planned happenstance project

Introducing The Planned Happenstance Project

Often growing up we are led to believe that career paths are linear; however, this is often not the case...