Paul Brandt named storyteller-in-residence at Mount Royal University

Calgary country singerPaul Brandt is going back to school.

Theeight-time JUNO award winner is collaborating with Mount Royal University business students as the school's storyteller-in-residence.

It's a volunteer role that will allow Brandt to mentor students while they work on a number of social enterprise projects.

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"WhatI'm finding is I'm learning as much as anybody," Brandt told the Calgary Eyeopener on Monday.

"It's just been a wonderful experience of being there with these fresh minds that are really excited about just making the most of this as they can."

This semester, marketing students have worked with Brandt to raise awareness about human trafficking as well as missing and murdered indigenous women.

"Human trafficking and the exploitation of women and the mistreatment of women is happening around the world," said Brandt, who graduated fromMount Royal.

The students have put together six different exhibits for the project, calledW: at MRU, including an evening talk on March 30 hosted by Brandt thatfeatures a number of speakers who have personal experiences withhuman trafficking and the lasting impact it has on its victims.

'Great work' ahead

Brandt said he's grateful for the "up close and personal" experience of being a storyteller-in-residence.

"I'm right there in the classroom," he said. "We're heading out at breaks and buying each other coffee."

Brandt added he hopes the students will "shift their focus as much as possible to not only making money and doing a great job at what they do, but doing something that really invests a lot of capital into their society."

"We have a lot of great work ahead of us, and great projects that we're really hoping are going to make a great difference to our community here locally and tocommunitiesaround the world."

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener