LU students celebrate graduation

The 47th Lakehead University convocation was the first for Brian Stevenson in his role as university president and the one regret he has is not stopping to reflect on the year.

“It’s been a very busy year,” he said, adding that the graduation ceremonies held Friday for the university and Northern Ontario School of Medicine left him feeling inspired.

“I feel inspired by the people I work with, by the faculty, by the staff, by the students,” Stevenson said. “I feel inspired by the community that supports the university and every day I go to work, I feel that inspiration.”

A whirlwind year, Stevenson said what stands out most for him is the support the community gives to Lakehead.

“The dedication the people of Thunder Bay and the Northwest have for this university – it’s really humbling every day when you hear the number of our graduates and the people that are supporting our university,” he said.

Friday was an emotional day for many as students, faculty and staff were seeing the direct results of their efforts, Stevenson noted.

“We work every day and we’re tunneling away to something and at the end of the year, we see the results, and this is the result – wonderful young people graduating from university after years of hard work and sacrifice,” he said.

Graduation day was especially rewarding for Catherine Golding, who battled the challenges of time management while balancing her schoolwork with a fulltime job.
“It was a lot of work, but well worth it,” said the indigenous learning program grad. “It’s been an awesome experience.”

Golding said the education she received was second to none.

“It was phenomenal,” she said. “There are three faculty members there specifically that are very supportive and it made it a wonderful experience, especially for me as a mature student.”

Honours Bachelor of Commerce graduate Landon Elliott also said his program was exceptional; he’s already been working for the past month in British Columbia as director of marketing for a corporation.

“Our program was fantastic,” he said. “It taught me everything I needed. Some teachers are better than others but the ones that made a difference really made a difference.”