Marijana Miric, 4th year Graphic Communications Management
Don’t let her size fool you. This fourth-year Graphic Communications Management student can kickbox you into oblivion, her schedule seems larger than her, and you’ll wonder how such loud cheers can emit from such a petite person. She’s tiny and dangerous, and she’s bringing back Ryerson’s biggest event of the year.
Why did you want to be a part of planning the Blue and Gold Ball this year?
A formal event at Ryerson? We don’t have many of these. I love formals, I love dressing up. I was involved in my first year too, just doing a bit of marketing here and there because I didn’t know who to talk to, or what a risk management form was! Last year, I was one of two social representatives on the GCM unions, so that’s helped give me knowledge who to talk to.
We were waiting for the Mattamy Athletic Centre to open up, we wanted to hold it last year as well, but unfortunately it was delayed until this year, and that’s the bright opening, it’ll be exciting.
What else are you involved in?
I was elected for the FCAD board of directors for the RSU. I was proud of that because it involved Ryerson-wide voting, not my close friends or GCM. I hold that position until May 1st.
The GCM yearbook, the grad book, the Cabin Fever fashion show, anything I’ve ever done, I’m always learning from it. No matter what you do, as long as you’re willing to learn from it, you can go so much farther, you can learn from anything.
I thought it was a great opportunity, I know what I’m capable of doing, FCAD’s a wonderful faculty, there’s so much talent, it’s probably the most creative one.
GCM has yearbooks?
Yeah! It was inspired by talking with my course union, we’re a print program and it’s all about experiential learning. We kept saying more and more, and then it sounded like a good idea. We went from ‘maybe we could make a yearbook’ to ‘we SHOULD have a yearbook!’ We put it together within two months. Students did everything from gathering the content to design.
Believe it or not, Ryerson used to have yearbooks. When we were looking at the Ryerson Archives (researching for Blue and Gold), back when it was a polytechnic institute with, like, 200 students, we did actually have yearbooks for all of Ryerson it was really neat. It was about the 1950s and 1960s. It wasn’t separated into Arts, Business, and FCAD students you have their mugshot, their program, their interests.
When I first came here four years ago, my program, we were using scanners and cameras, we’re still using cameras, but now we’re using photography. you would have older years talking about film stripping, and things have changed so much. We want to celebrate how Ryerson has changed so much since it was a polytechnic institute.
How are you doing, organizing the Blue and Gold Ball?
It’s so much fun, it drives me crazy. The past few months have been planning and meetings. Meeting with production, with decor. I don’t know what am I going to do with my life when this is all over.
Why get involved and drive yourself crazy with all these commitments?
I think it’s just because I’m so proud to be a Ryerson student! Because of all it’s accomplished, we got the Black Star Gallery, we got Maple Leaf Gardens! It’s now the new home for Ryerson Athletics. So much has happened, there’s so much for Ryerson students to be proud of.
I don’t think students realize the opportunities, and that makes me sad. You see all these things when you’re involved and you meet so many people that allow you and enrich your life and provide you with opportunities.
Were you always this involved?
I wasn’t involved in high school at all. The cheerleading team was the extent of my extracurriculars. I did a complete 180 went from not being involved to barely having time to sleep. After Blue and Gold in my first year, my time management skills improved. I was trying to handle working on an event, and because it was the end of the school year, midterms, finals, projects, and it was my second semester of uni. I didn’t know what I got myself into, just threw myself into it, jumped in full force, I didn’t prepare. I learned a lot, in everything, no matter what I do.
How do you stay organized?
I live by a calendar. I have everything is scheduled, from going to the gym to job fair events, fashion show tomorrow, meetings. I almost feel like I can never do anything spontaneously and I have to plan out my personal life. But I don’t find it’s bad, this is my life.
If first-year Marijana could see you now, what would she say?
‘Who ARE you?’ I realize how much I’ve changed over the past four years, not in a bad way, my time management skills have definitely improved, and my communication skills have improved.
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Join Marijana and the rest of Ryerson, and make history at the Blue & Gold Ball on March 28! You can get your ticket at the Student Centre for $10. See you in your spiffest at the MAC on Thursday night!
