orillia's award-winning graduates

hard work and passion pay off for lakehead - orillia's award-winning graduates

published in the orillia packet and times, june 30, 2010

"if you embrace lakehead, it will embrace you back. 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 became part of me." this is how recent 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 - orillia graduate, shannon green, describes her experience at lakehead's orillia campus.

at the lakehead orillia convocation on june 5, green was awarded both the orillia campus dean's medal and the poulin award.

the dean's medal is awarded to the highest-ranking student in the bachelor of arts and sciences program. green graduated with an honours bachelor of arts and sciences degree.

the poulin award is awarded for outstanding citizenship and presented to the student who contributed most to the welfare of the university through student activities.

green was a lakehead student ambassador and a founding member of the orillia campus thundercats club - the university's "community action team." she served as the club's first president and under her leadership the club spearheaded a number of successful community initiatives.

of the many projects led by the thundercats, green is most proud of the walk for memories event, which was initiated in cooperation with the alzheimer society of north east simcoe county. "it was an amazing event," says green. "we raised over $6,000, surpassing all our expectations." other events led by the thundercats under green's leadership included "trick-or-eat," which collected food items for orillia's sharing place food bank and a "30-hour famine," which donated over $3,000 to haiti and other international aid projects.

"shannon exemplifies what we are most proud of at lakehead," says campus dean, dr. kim fedderson. "her enthusiasm, professionalism, and willingness to contribute - both on campus and in the community - are simply spectacular."

green came to lakehead with an impressive range of experience and credentials. she earned her ba degree from the university of western ontario and then a legal assistant diploma from fanshawe college. while working for a law firm in london, green realized she may be better suited to a career in health care and decided to pursue a new profession. she enrolled in the d'arcy lane institute of massage therapy and completed her three-year residency in the u.s. most recently green ran her own massage therapy practice in bracebridge.

green says she loved the person-to-person interaction involved in her work as a registered massage therapist (rmt), but thought there was only so much she could do in that role. her goal was to become a medical doctor. with her husband mike's encouragement, she made what has become a life-changing decision. "my husband was my biggest advocate," says green. "he said, 'you have to do this!'"

the couple came to orillia three years ago to find out if lakehead's orillia campus could offer what green needed to pursue her new ambition. "once we met kelli gray in student affairs, i knew lakehead was the university for me. when kelli heard what my goals were, she said, "we'll help you - we'll work together to help you get there. my goal then became our goal."

this summer, green is confident in as she prepares for her medical college admission test (mcat) exam. "my experience at lakehead, especially the institution's interdisciplinary approach and focus on inquiry-based learning, has taught me how to think and evaluate critically. these are some of the traits medical schools look for in candidates."

green currently volunteers at the emergency department of orillia soldiers' memorial hospital and is completing a course in biomedical ethics. her goal is to practice family or emergency medicine and to specialize in palliative care and gerontology.

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janet earle is another award-winning student who returned to university to pursue a long-time dream. she graduated with a bachelor of education degree and was the orillia campus recipient of the william a. west education medal, awarded to the highest-ranking student in education.

earle graduated from carleton university in 1989 with an honours ba in law and political science. "i was considering law at the time, but then got married and had children." she and her husband tom moved to orillia when he was offered a teaching position in the area.

over the years, earle worked on and off with her family's land-surveying business, but says she always wanted to be a teacher. because she wasn't willing to move away from home, earle didn't consider going to teachers' college - until she noticed information in the local paper about a new one-year bachelor of education degree offered at lakehead - orillia. "i decided to apply and when my application was successful, i was just over the moon - this meant i could fulfill my dream and stay at home with my family."

earle says she loved being back at school, even though she found it difficult to manage the large volume of work, along with a busy life at home. her kids were 9, 15 and 17 years of age and very active. "during the time i studied, my son lucas played 68 games of hockey! my husband was a major factor in making it work; he took over many of the "taxi" duties." in spite of the challenges, earle says lakehead was everything she wanted it to be. "i loved the experience and commend the instructors for doing such a superb job in preparing us for teaching placements." earle said she felt confident and prepared to be in the classroom. "most of our instructors were retired teachers and were able to provide a wealth of experience."

one of earle's professors, dr. fiona blaikie, says she was not the least bit surprised when earle won the education medal. "she was extremely hard-working. she not only got the top mark, but was very responsible and helpful. she was an absolute pleasure to have in the program."

earle hopes to begin teaching this fall as a supply teacher and ultimately hopes to have her own classroom.

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tanya clark came to lakehead - orillia with a college diploma in business administration and took the university's one-year professional program to turn her diploma into a degree. clark graduated from lakehead with a bachelor of administration degree and was awarded the dean braun medal as the highest-ranking student in the program at the orillia campus.

after completing a three-year diploma program in business administration at georgian college, clark began looking for jobs and discovered that many positions required a degree. "i decided to go back to school so i could take advantage of additional opportunities and higher rates of pay," says clark. "i grew up in orillia, so it made sense to go to school here and avoid the expense of living away from home."

"i wasn't sure what to expect at lakehead, especially after already studying business for three years," says clark. what she found was a program that taught her how to think differently. "there is a strong focus on analyzing and problem-solving. this made the courses i took interesting, and taught me valuable skills that i will be able to use, no matter what kind of work i do in the future."

clark says she also enjoyed the small class sizes. "i was able to have a more personal relationship with my professors, who were all fantastic."

professor jo-anne ryan, coordinator of the business administration college transfer degree program, says tanya excelled because she was open to learning and embraced the different thought processes presented in the program. "she was willing to explore. this makes a big difference and allows 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 to see new perspectives," explains ryan.

clark is working with the local health integration network (lhin) in orillia this summer and plans to travel before pursuing her career goals. she looks forward to working in the field of event planning in the future.