Dear Hiring Committee,
My name is Lucy Balogh and I am currently finishing my third year of my Gender Studies degree at the University of Victoria. I am interested in working with the Women’s Transition House because I believe your values and mission strongly align with my work experience and education thus far.
I currently work at the Victoria branch of BCSPCA, which is a non-profit animal shelter. My position there involves working with dogs, as well as people. Many of the community members that I am working with are women fleeing domestic abuse situations who need their dogs to be cared for or rehomed. We have an emergency boarding program in which people going through hard times can board their animals with us. Majority of the time this means working with community members who have are unhoused and working to get back on their feet. All these situations require empathizing with people who are going through extremely intense moments in their own lives and to reassure them that their animals will be safe with us. Working in these emotionally charged moments has strongly prepared me to communicate effectively with people who are struggling and need to speak with someone stable. I believe these communication skills would be beneficial to the work championed at the Transition House. At the SPCA I have also worked with animals who are under protective custody and therefore I understand the importance of privacy to keep all humans and animals safe.
Being in my third year of Gender Studies I have gained a lot of knowledge surrounding the intersectionality of domestic abuse. I am currently taking a class called “Gender, Race, and Power” which has uncovered how the structures we live in impose extremely complex realities for folks, that inherently prevent them from having a chance to have a safe life. This class has caused me to think of the ways domestic violence all stems from the reality of living in a settler colonial country that functions under a patriarchal and capitalist system. This baseline understanding ensures that I am approaching the topic of domestic abuse without falling onto assumptions of victimization or shaming. “Indigenous Feminisms” and “Indigenous Womxn in Canada” are two other classes I have taken which have helped me understand the ways that Indigenous women and 2Spirit folks are more vulnerable to violence. I have also taken a course called “Intro to Trans Histories” which has taught me more about the fluidity of gender and the need to reject our gender binary within the feminist movement. Your policy on allowing diverse gender folks to access your resources deeply aligns with my beliefs. All these concepts that I have learned throughout my Gender Studies degree so far means I see the world through of lens of empathy, intersectionality, and awareness of the structural inequities we live within which will bring an informed, and important perspective to your organization.
My degree so far has involved a lot of writing, self-location, as well as important discussions. My writing skills have improved vastly through having to do assignments such as research papers, policy briefs, critical reflections, persuasive and comparative essays, as well as self-locations in relation to the content. I have learned how to affectively research and write for a variety of topics, briefs, and prompts. Discussion groups are also a key part of most of my classes in which I have learned how to effectively present my ideas in relation to the course content and prompt. Being able to effectively listen and respond to others is another skill that I have learned from participating in discussion groups that are not centred around particularly ‘light’ topics.
I feel prepared and excited to begin a new chapter of learning at the Women’s Transition House. Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to talking with you soon.
Sincerely,
Lucy Balogh