Thunder Bay Campus — CEREMONY #1

Friday Afternoon (May 27, 2011)

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Graduands of Lakehead University Class of 2011. You’ve made it. 

You have worked hard. 

You have endured challenges: academic, financial and physical to get here today. 

But you have made it. 

You are here. And no one can take this accomplishment away from you. 

You have earned it. It is yours. 

Now, you have to do something with it. 

For yourselves and for others. 

No one is happier than you... well, maybe with the exception of your family and friends who are happy to see you go on to the next stage in your lives. 

Your accomplishment is inspiring. 

In the months since I have arrived to this wonderful City of Thunder Bay and this great University, I have been inspired. 

I have been inspired every day. 

By you, by the faculty, by the Staff. 

I think of our great University athletes, OUR Thunderwolves, facing any number of daily challenges. 

Balancing physical endurance, academic pressures and financial hardship. And the Pressure to win. 

Yet, through discipline and love for their sport, they manage to play and motivate us to follow their example of love of sport, of dedication, of sacrifice and of discipline. 

This year our Men’s basketball team managed to win the Ontario championships and make us all proud to be Thunderwolves. 

Our Nordic team continued their winning ways and secured the Ontario championships for a seventh year in a row. 

I was inspired by these athletes. 

This year, for the first time, based on a new program led by our Athletics Director Tom Warden, our Hockey Team, with the support of Wasaya Airlines, went to Fort Hope First Nations and spent a few days coaching First Nation kids.  

And while they coached hockey, these wonderful kids who were coached, taught them a few lessons as well, about life in the north, about the love of hockey, about the universal language of sport. 

And our Thunderwolves learned that they could inspire and be inspired all at the same time. 

I am Inspired by them as well 

This year, the graduating class NOSM were all matched to residency programs in the first round of Canadian Resident Matching Service and NOSM residents outscored all the other medical schools in the Medical Council of Canada exams. 

This week Lakehead University’s Civil Engineering Steel Bridge Team won first place and beat 47 other universities at the 20th annual National Student Steel Bridge Competition in the United States. Lakehead was the only Canadian team to place in the top five overall since the inception of the competition and the first Canadian team ever to win the competition. 

The five-member Steel Bridge Team, comprising graduating students Damien Ch’ng, Dave Enns, Cory Goulet, Chris Kukkee, and Kristin Myles, were supported by professors Dr. Tony Gillies and Dr. Timo Tikka. Congratulations to them and to the Faculty of Engineering. 

I am Inspired by these students and professors. 

Early in the fall I learned about a unique program called Humanities 101 which is offered at Lakehead and “Does Something” about poverty in our community. Through partnerships and affiliations with over 25 agencies in Thunder Bay, non-traditional students participate in higher education experiences at Lakehead University, with some graduates of Humanities 101 continuing their educational journey as full-time students at Lakehead University or other educational institutions. 

Humanities 101 does something about poverty by identifying and overcoming barriers faced by community members who have a love of learning and want an opportunity to learn from great professors. This program is so successful that we are looking to expand it and also establish it at our Orillia campus. 

Every week, for a semester, our outstanding volunteer faculty members dedicate their time to teach these remarkable students everything from Archaeology in North Western Ontario, to Canadian Art, to poetry and music, to cooperative forestry, to food security and aboriginal studies. 

All this is due to the vision and dedication of professors such as Dr. Christina Van Barneveld, Humanities 101 founder, Dr. Doug West, Dr. Jane Nicholas, Dr. Gillian Sidall , Dr. Roger Delaney, Delores Wawia, an elder and professor in education, and Nadine Seeton, a staff member and graduate of 101, and the many others who have generously volunteered their time over the years. 

And the graduates of the program, such as Serena Dykstra (Daikstra) who, like many others of us here today, is a first generation university student and who overcame financial and personal challenges to go to University only after having gained confidence through the Humanities 101 program. She is now reaching the end of her undergraduate degree and intends to go to law school when she is done. 

These students, staff and professors inspire me.

I am inspired by this university.

This year, the Alumni Association honoured five outstanding and remarkable individuals. Vonnie Cheng, past president of the Association, was awarded the first volunteer of the year award. Michael Power, Vice-President of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and Shy-Anne Hovorka, singer, songwriter and educator, were honoured with the Young Alumni Award. Manitoba provincial Cabinet Minister , Steve Ashton and Thunder Bay Human rights activist and lawyer David Shannon were awarded the Alumni Honour award. 

We ourselves honour Dr. John Naysmith, Professor Emeritus of Forestry and world recognized forester, who will be made Fellow of Lakehead University. 

I am Inspired by these individuals. 

This year we are first among Ontario undergraduate universities in research dollars per full-time faculty. 

We are First among Ontario Undergraduate Universities and third nationally in Research Intensity over the past Decade in our category. 

97% of our graduates get jobs within two years of graduation, which is above the provincial average. 

We are among the nation’s leaders in making university accessibility a reality. More than 11% of our students are of aboriginal descent and nearly 60% of students are members of the first generation in their families to receive a University degree. 

We rank number two in student to faculty ratio in Ontario. 

Lets, face it, we have people second to none.  

Students, staff, faculty, alumni. 

I am Inspired by this University. 

And so should you.