Angela Musceo, 2007 Garfield Weston scholar

For many years before entering college, 2007 Garfield Weston scholar Angela Musceo had been volunteering with women who have experienced violence. Moving into the assaulted women and children’s counsellor advocate program at George Brown College was a logical step in her personal development. It was, she comments, “a natural progression for me to gain the education behind the grassroots experience.”
Angela’s advocacy takes many forms. Both at school and in the Greater Toronto Area, she devotes much of her energy to supporting youth and lesbian, gay, bi- and transsexual  communities. She sits on George Brown’s LGBTQ committee, the Toronto Youth Cabinet, and the Chief’s Youth Advisory Committee; she helps out as a peer facilitator for the Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children; and she coordinates a radio show for young people through Regent Park Focus.

Her Garfield Weston Award helped Angela to broaden her volunteer horizons. During a Garfield Weston summer experience in Italy, she studied Italian and set up an art-based therapy group for queer women. It filled an important void, giving the participants a much-needed sense of belonging. “There is a lack of supports in many other places around the world,” notes Angela, “especially for queer women or for women who have experienced violence.”
The process was enriching for Angela, too: “The wonderful opportunities abroad that I was able to experience . . . have made me not only a more efficient worker within the field but a better advocate in understanding the barriers that individuals face from all walks of life.”
Since completing her first diploma, Angela has fast-tracked into George Brown’s social service worker program. She expects to complete her second credential by the end of the year, and is mulling over the idea of overseas policy and development work.