I really benefited from how intimate this campus was, and I swear I could write an entire essay about how my experience there greatly impacted both my personal and professional life. I took a year off before starting due to my mental health and had to work a lot to support myself. But that is also why I am so thankful for the empathetic professors who helped me along the way and the university employment opportunities which also helped me to develop skills and connect with people. I don't know where I would be without some of them, and I am so grateful for my time at Grenfell.

 

Who or what had the biggest impact on you during your time at Grenfell Campus?

The professors, honestly. So many of them are great teachers who also made time for all my questions and encouraged me along the way. There are so many moments that multiple professors impacted my life which are skills I still use or memories I still cherish.

 

Have you received any awards, recognitions, or completed any notable projects post-graduation?

My MSc "Utrecht University Excellence Scholarship" which allowed me to come to the Netherlands to study Climate Physics. I stayed to do my PhD in Fluid Physics at the University of Twente and even sent my thesis about modeling wind farm wakes and blockage back to Grenfell. Since then, I have done a lot of interesting projects with my work at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.

 

What advice would you give to current or future Grenfell students?

If you could use some help, please ask for it. If you chose Grenfell, I think you made a good choice. It's a great place to be yourself, chase what you're into, and mold your experience. Good luck.

There was an incredible community-type atmosphere studying at Grenfell. Looking back on it now, especially after studying elsewhere, I wish I had appreciated this more at the time. The class sizes and access to knowledge are second to none in this country. I learned who I was at Grenfell, and more importantly in some cases who I was not. I credit my career path to my time at Grenfell.

 

Who or what had the biggest impact on you during your time at Grenfell Campus?

The Psychology department as a whole was incredibly influential in terms of how I developed personally and professionally.  In particular, Dr. Jennifer Buckle helped guide and inspire me to do the work I do now with individuals and families.

 

Were you involved in any clubs, societies, or extracurricular activities?

I was involved with the Psychology Society for my last 2 years.

 

Have you received any awards, recognitions, or completed notable projects post-graduation?

I went on to study Social Work at Memorial, getting by BSW in 2015. I received the Mary Florence Mugford (Lane) Memorial Award for Social Work that year as well. I worked in child protection before starting with Mental Health and Addictions in 2016.

 

What advice would you give to current or future Grenfell students?

Soak it all in! I wish I had been more involved with the school community at large. No matter what you're studying, the capacity is there to develop skills and life-long relationships that will help you wherever you choose to go from here.

I look back at my time at Grenfell Campus very fondly. It truly shaped both my personal and professional journey. I appreciated how the Environmental Science program introduced me to so many different topics and provided a broad foundation that helped me discover which areas I wanted to explore more deeply.

The research assistant positions I held were especially valuable. They gave me the opportunity to work with different professors on a range of topics. That hands-on experience is what really confirmed for me that I wanted to pursue a career in research and helped me develop a wide range of research skills early on.

I also spent an intersession semester at the Harlow Campus, which was my first time in Europe. That experience helped me gain confidence to travel independently and planted the seed that I wanted to study abroad one day, a goal that has since shaped my life and career.

 

Who or what had the biggest impact on you during your time at Grenfell Campus?

I really appreciated the close-knit feeling at Grenfell Campus, with small classes and plenty opportunities to interact with professors and classmates. One of my professors, Dr. Dmitry Sveshnikov, had a particularly big impact on my career path. After completing my degree, I worked with him as a research assistant, which led to working at the Canadian Forest Service for two years.

Through that experience, I was introduced to dendrochronology and gained hands-on research skills that shaped my academic path. That foundation made me a strong candidate for my PhD position, where those skills were essential, and has led me to my current postdoc position, where I continue to use dendrochronological methods.

 

Have you received any awards, recognitions, or completed notable projects post-graduation?

After earning my bachelor’s degree from Grenfell, I went on to complete my Master’s in Ecology at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. For my Master’s thesis I led a project investigating how nearby forest patches influence pollinators in an oil palm plantation. This involved several months of fieldwork in Borneo, which was an incredible and life-changing experience.

I then pursued a PhD at Aarhus University in Denmark, where I studied how Arctic shrubs respond to climate change using dendrochronology. That research included two months of field work on Disko Island, Greenland. I’m now continuing to work on this topic as a postdoctoral researcher at Charles University in the Czech Republic, using a multiproxy approach to understand how shrubs are changing and what that can tell us about the future of Arctic ecosystems.

 

What advice would you give to current or future Grenfell students?

Take advantage of the opportunities offered to you at Grenfell. Whether it’s a summer research job, a field course, or a semester abroad, those experiences can have a bigger impact on your life than you might expect. Also, don’t be too discouraged by grades; passion, curiosity, and persistence go a long way!