When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going

By Bismah Ayub

The day was Wednesday, the 11th of March. This may be just like any other day for some, but for the members of Enactus St. Lawrence College and some amazing crew members it was almost D-day. As an Enactus chapter that falls into the central Canada region, the regional competition was tomorrow, we had been preparing for this day for months. There had been scripts made, presentations practiced, t-shirts delivered, forms signed, food purchased, we were all raring to go. All that was left between the Enactus St. Lawrence College chapter and the central Canada regional competition was one night’s sleep and a couple of hours of travel.

We had all heard about Corona-virus, just that morning the radio was talking about quarantine set up in Ontario. But we still ensured we were ready, we had held a meeting with all presenters the week before as a quick run through to get a feel for our presentations. After dedicating hours of work to this, to say we were excited would be an understatement. We were working on some final changes to the presentations when there was a ‘ting’, a notification of an email to our school emails. It was an update from Enactus Canada, we had been receiving these, it was nice to be kept up to date on information about the competition. But this time it was different. It was something that was unexpected and hit us hard. The Enactus central Canada competition had been cancelled.

Cancelled. At first, we were shocked, we couldn’t believe it, it felt like our endless efforts had been turned to dust in a matter of seconds. We were disappointed but understood that it was a valid reason, very valid, health and safety absolutely came first. Stumped, we were confused as to what to do now. We always found talking and food were therapeutic. So we sat, snacked, and talked about it. We thanked everyone for all their time and help, we could not have done it without them. We had amazing team members who dedicated hours to scriptwriting, presentation-making and practising, and countless other things. We had amazing crew members supporting us, always readily there to help us. We had Spark, a company openly willing to help us improve our presentations. We couldn’t appreciate everyone enough. We talked about how we felt, how we were sad but understood the reasoning, Coronavirus was spreading fast, and it was best to cancel the competition. We knew we were a strong team, and we would make it through this together, this brought us some comfort.

So, what next? We all went home eagerly waiting on the next steps. As the days went on there were updates from Enactus Canada. We heard numerous ‘tings’, carefully reading each one. Then one update came, informing us that the competition would go on, but virtually, we were told to send in everything, with deadlines being extended to help us prepare materials we needed to hand in.

We got together, and with the help of Spark, a creative communications agency, we planned out our next steps. We were given the chance to improve our work and send it in. We were grateful for this opportunity and took it with open arms. We decided that we would all record the scripts and then have the amazing team at Spark edit it into the presentations. Within a few days, we collected a lot of voice-overs and sent them off to Spark to be edited. There was a great understanding and strong communication between everyone, and we truly all were united to make the best of this opportunity. Within a week the three presentations were ready to go. This was no easy task which we accomplished, but we were able to do it through our strong team spirit, effective communication, and robust ambition. We were very happy with the outcome, even though regionals didn’t go as planned, we still were pleased with our work.

This situation taught us some valuable lessons. The first one being that we are family, no matter what happens we will stick together through thick and thin, and will always have each other’s back. The second lesson we learnt is that with the help of one another, and our incredible volunteers, we can overcome any obstacle sent our way. We learnt that together we can make the best of any given situation, and grow closer and stronger.

We’d like to take a moment to thank all our amazing volunteers, who this couldn’t have been accomplished without. We’d like to thank Enactus Canada, for giving us this opportunity to present. We would like to thank Spark, an agency always willing to help, who the presentations would not have come together without. We’d like to thank volunteers such as Mike, Bre, and Steve, who provided unconditional support during tough times. We’d like to thank Dan (the man) who carries the spirit of our team and is always open to lead us. We’d like to thank our wonderful Enactus St. Lawrence College team, who came together and dedicated endless time to our cause. We’d like to thank everyone who helped us, without you we would not have been able to make the best out of a tough situation. And we would like to thank you for making all our projects possible because the organizers do matter, but without people willing to listen and take action, organization is nothing.

Thank you to everyone who made our journey this year thus far possible, and we look forward to bringing out new projects in the future, learning and growing together, and helping benefit the lives of others.