MEDICINE HAT, AB – Medicine Hat College is celebrating its graduates this week as convocation is taking place virtually.
Practical nurse graduate Amanda Schill received the Governor General’s Academic Medal with her 4.0 GPA.
That’s awarded to the student who receives the highest overall average upon graduation.
Amanda was a hairstylist for the last nine years and wanted to go back to post-secondary.
So far she loves nursing and is working in rural northern Saskatchewan. She says the program was a lot of work but she made it through.
“I was out of school for so long so definitely took me a while to get back into the swing of things and how to study and how to retain all the information. It’s a very fast-moving program and a lot of information thrown at you,” Schill said.
Meantime, the Student of the Year was awarded to a graduate in the college’s education program.
Amber Kornelson was nominated by her instructors and was then selected by a college panel.
She has lived in Medicine Hat for 22 years and is hoping to teach in the city in the fall.
Amber says this year brought some challenges but that didn’t stop their learning.
“We had a lot of great opportunities like going out to Elk Water, going to Medalta, just seeing what our community has to offer for teachers to bring to their students which were amazing,” Kornelson told Chat News.
And, a former CAO for the city of Medicine Hat is the Honorary Applied Baccalaureate Degree recipient.
Gerry Labas is being recognized for his commitment to public service and education.
His career spans 40 years in many roles in the city, government, and trades.
Labas also spend a number of years on the college board.
“I’ve been a lifelong learner, I started my work career as a tradesman and kept going back for higher levels of learning and as a result that demonstrated what I think is really important,” Labas said.
As CAO with the city, Labas also led a program to financially encourage and support staff in their pursuit of higher education through Medicine Hat College.
