English At 50 | University of Waterloo

Mr. Colin McGillicuddy (BA 1986) found it difficult to decide which university he should attend. Many of his friends would be attending the University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario, where he also had acceptance offers. Finally he chose to attend the University of Waterloo for its unique Bio-Chem program. Colin had two reasons for choosing to study Bio-Chem. First, both of his parents have technical backgrounds, in engineering and nursing, and he anticipated following their example. Second, there was a recession in 1981-1982, and he felt that he should go to school for something that would be employable.

And employable it certainly was: in a second-year chemistry lecture, the professor remarked to the class that by the end of this course, students would be able to function as a professional chemist. Colin should have felt reassured by the statement; instead, it made him realize that he did not want to become a professional chemist. After class, he went straight to Needles Hall and switched faculties. He decided to focus his studies on English because it was the subject that he was best at, had won awards for in high school, and most enjoyed.

Although Colin began his university career as a co-op student, he opted out of the program in order to finish in four years. The change in major meant that he had to take six English courses per term to complete his degree in the remaining three years. Despite his very full schedule, Colin enjoyed many of his English classes at UW, the majority of which concentrated on poetry. Two classes in particular stand out in his memory: Romantic English Literature with Dr. Warren Ober and Contemporary Satire with Dr. Stan Fogel.

While at UW, Colin had a variety of experiences, including a year of Science and Math studies, three jam-packed years of English studies, some time as a don, and lots of time as a team member in various Campus Rec sports.

He found that the soft skills he learned outside the classroom have been the most helpful throughout his life and career.

“At UW the most significant thing I learned is that you need to choose your own path. If you let someone else choose you might not enjoy it. Follow your own interests and accept where they lead you.” Colin finds this to be an important lesson because learning it helped him choose a field that suited his own needs. He originally chose a university program based on what he thought his parents would prefer, and later found that it would result in a direction that did not suit him.

Ultimately, choosing to pursue something for which he had a talent opened up opportunities he wouldn't have otherwise even considered.

Colin McGillicuddy Colin left UW with an Honours English degree. “After graduation I said to myself, 'what am I going to do with that?'” He decided to pursue a Masters degree at the University of Toronto with a plan to earn his PhD and teach English literature. In his Master's studies, Colin realized that the narrowness of focus required in graduate studies was not something he enjoyed. Upon completion of his M.A., he decided to attend teacher's college at Queen's University, instead of pursuing a PhD, to find out if teaching was something he would enjoy.

Teacher's college was the right decision, and Colin has worked in Secondary Schools ever since. He has been an English teacher and the head of a High School English department as well as Vice-Principal. He is currently the Principal of Holy Trinity Secondary Catholic School in Oakville, where he also coaches boys basketball.

Colin resides in Burlington, with his wife Eileen and two children, Erin and Conor.