Concordia’s Shuffle walkathon has raised nearly $1.4 million and benefited more than 800 students.
Yuliya Kondratenko (left), a member of the Shuffle 28 Advisory Committee, is pictured with another Shuffler at the 2016 event.
When I moved to Montreal to study at Concordia, I looked for ways to feel at home again — to feel a sense of belonging in a tight-knit community. Concordia became my new home.
The annual Shuffle walkathon encapsulates that community spirit. Participants raise funds for scholarships and bursaries that go to deserving students, and walk together as a community. Now in its 28th year, Shuffle has raised nearly $1.4 million and benefited more than 800 students.
Now that I’ve graduated and work at Concordia, I have participated in the last three Shuffle walkathons. That still makes me a beginner. I applaud the veteran Shufflers who have not missed a single Shuffle since the event’s inception in 1990.
The symbolic 6.5-kilometre walk from Sir George Williams Campus to Loyola Campus gets me out of my office — and out of my routine. It helps me reflect.
I think back about my own experience as an international student, juggling studies and part-time jobs trying to make ends meet. I think about how many other students at our university probably have stories to tell about overcoming similar struggles.
I think about how much it would mean to them to receive a Shuffle scholarship or bursary during such a moment of struggle. I picture those happy faces in my mind’s eye, and I keep on walking to honour those stories and those students.
Each of us has our own reason to Shuffle. I asked other Concordians what they love about our campus tradition. Here’s what they had to say:
