Jenna Grossman

A sense of belonging

Eight-year old Jenna Grossman was apprehensive about her first day of choir practice, but the choir director quickly helped her nerves disappear.

“She didn’t just draw out talent, she drew out a sense of belonging,” Jenna recalls. “She created a positive space for us, somewhere we could truly express ourselves.”

That experience helped develop Jenna’s strong passion for music, which has grown stronger through years of singing in choirs, and eventually led her to the music education program at UVic. 

Due to the small class sizes in her program, and the variety of musical groups and choirs at UVic, Jenna’s discovered a similar sense of community has been central to her university experience. Her entrance scholarships also contributed to that. “It felt like the university was saying it welcomes me into the community,” says Jenna. In her second year, she received several donor scholarships that she says also gave her “a message of support and acknowledgement.”

Degree on pause

When Jenna was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in September of 2014, that strong UVic community rallied around her. Although Jenna had to return to the mainland for treatment, her friends organized a series of video messages that would pop up in Jenna’s phone during her bi-weekly chemotherapy sessions.

Jenna’s illness put her degree—her whole life in fact—on pause. But within a year she had re-enrolled in the classes she missed, and is now completely immersed in UVic life again. On top of her courses, Jenna is starting her own choir group, and is part of a team of student volunteers that puts on a music camp for middle school students.

Donor support is woven into Jenna’s story of positivity and resilience. It underpins her sense of belonging, and her ability to advance towards her ultimate goal of becoming an educator and choir director. No doubt one day, she will welcome a timid eight-year old girl into her choir practice and inspire them too.