Lighting up the stage – Alex Bhargava shares his transformative experience

The connections with fellow students that Alex Bhargava made in the VIU Theatre diploma program have deeply impacted him.

“I’ve gained so much confidence in my abilities and my ability to problem solve and it’s all because of the students that were around me and their willingness to keep pushing me and encouraging me, but also to help me if I needed it.”

Alex attended VIU to pursue a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Psychology. He decided to take a theatre course as an elective, and that experience led him to also enrol in the Theatre diploma. As part of the course, the students watched the mainstage production put on by the theatre department. That year it was The Visitor and Alex says it made him realize that theatre can be a meaningful way of conveying deep messages.  

Taking the theatre diploma has built Alex’s confidence and he feels better able to take on the challenge of pursuing a paramedic career – a goal he’s had since high school.

“I like going into situations and making them better. I know I’m not going to fix everything. There are a lot of situations I am going to come across as a paramedic that I can’t fix, but I know that I can at least make them better for whoever’s involved in some way,” says Alex. “I wanted to be a paramedic before I went to university, but I think if I had gone straight out of high school, I wouldn’t have had the confidence and resilience for that sort of work. I think I would have quit and tried something else.”

Alex says his psychology degree will also give him unique skills as a paramedic.

“My psychology education means I can help people who are in distress with a little bit of a different understanding and point of view than someone who hasn’t taken psychology,” he says.

Alex graduates this December and is planning to take the Emergency Medical Responder certificate at North Island College. He hopes to get a job with BC Emergency Health Services and work his way up to becoming a paramedic. 

He says one of the things he appreciates about attending VIU is the opportunities for students to expand their knowledge with hands-on learning outside the classroom.

During his time in the theatre program, Alex has had the opportunity to do sound design, act and stage manage shows at Malaspina Theatre. This semester, he asked Leon Potter, the VIU Theatre department Chair, and Robin Boxwell, Technical Director, if he could do the lighting for the mainstage production this year. He worked on the production of Our Town as the lighting designer. Alex says that with the Theatre department it’s about trusting the process.

“It was a really good experience. I feel like with the theatre department you have to be okay with feeling like you don’t know what you’re doing and just trusting that if you keep going, it’ll work itself out,” says Alex. “It is a lot of trial and error and communicating with the director and your peers.”