Maureen Kershaw faced an unexpected dilemma in 2006.

She was an established environmental and forestry consultant and a former lecturer in biology and conservation biology at Nipissing University. But if she wanted to keep a promise made over a decade earlier – and fulfil a lifelong goal – she would be returning to university as a student.

“I had a bet with my son Devon when he was in elementary school,” Maureen says. “I told him that if he ever competed in the Olympics, I would complete a PhD. And darned if he didn’t make the Olympics in 2006!”

Devon, a talented Canadian World Cup cross country skier, would go on to compete in three Olympic Games and lead the Canadian men’s ski team to World Cup medals. So Maureen went ahead and enrolled in a PhD program in natural resources management at Lakehead University – even though she’d just moved to Thunder Bay to start a demanding part-time job. “Being a mature student is humbling,” she says, “but it creates an amazing perspective on life.”

For the next eight years, Maureen toiled away at her PhD in the evenings and on weekends while spending her days as working chair of the Forestry Futures Trust (FFT) Committee.

Forestry Futures Trust is an arms-length organization that preserves Ontario’s Crown forests by disbursing up to $20 million a year to programs including re-establishing forests after natural disturbances, to overseeing the province’s independent forest audit program, and funding for the provincial forest inventory.

Maureen’s academic success wouldn’t have been possible without an incredible support network of friends and colleagues – the Lakehead University Masters Running Club, Thunder Bay’s ski community, and the FFT Committee. “They stepped in to keep me going when I was ready to give up.”

Maureen’s love of the natural world was sparked as a youngster growing up in Guelph, Ontario. “I was forever collecting leaves, exploring a nearby woodlot, and mucking in the water,” she says, “so I always had in mind that I wanted to be part of work healing the land.”

She did a Bachelor of Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo followed by a Master of Science in Plant Ecology at the University of Alberta. After finishing her master’s, Maureen put her education to practical use.

She began her career in western Canada before relocating to Wawa as a district land use planner for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR). Two years later, she transferred to the MNR in Sudbury where she was a regional soil specialist and then a regional forest ecologist between 1979 and 1989. At that point, she left the public sector to found her own company – Devlin Environmental Consulting – at the same time that she was having her third child.

Sudbury’s proximity to the outdoors allowed Maureen to share her love of nature with her kids. “We’re a granola-crunching, ski-through-the-forest-type of family,” she says. By the time Maureen took on the Forestry Futures Trust position in Thunder Bay, her children were young adults and beginning to strike out on their own paths.

Maureen graduated with her PhD in the spring of 2014, making all of her children tremendously proud of her. Her daughter Linnaea, a writer and teacher as well as a Lakehead grad, and her youngest son Sean, an artist and copy editor, were both there when Maureen walked across the stage of the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium to receive her degree. “Convocation was the greatest celebration,” she says, “it was very special having them there.”

A new adventure began for Maureen in April 2015. After eight years in Thunder Bay, she was hired as a forest ecosystems science coordinator with the Ontario Forest Research Institute in Sault Ste. Marie – and her passion for maintaining the integrity of Ontario’s ecosystems continues unabated.

Sioux Lookout, Ont. — Steve Dumonski's Grade 8 class at Sioux Mountain Public School seems normal enough: 25 or so kids busily doing their work. But it's actually pretty unique. Until recently, a lot of the kids just didn't come to class.

Watch CBC Full Story:  https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2682216801/

"We have kids that you're happy that they showed up that morning," Dumonski said. "You're happy when they walk through the door, whether it's on time or it's at 10:30 in the morning. I know the students who are struggling to be here."

Dumonski, whom the students call Mr. D, grew up in northwestern Ontario and understands what it can be like to live in one of the poorest and most-troubled areas of the country.

"The boys are over here in the woods getting high on marijuana or crack or whatever it might be. That's reality," he said. "And I've had two students in the past try to commit suicide on a weekend. One tried to commit suicide after school right here."

Steve Dumonski (pictured right) is a teacher and hockey coach at Sioux Mountain Public School. He says many of his students have problems with substance abuse and some have been victims of sexual abuse. They used to spend their days doing drugs and skipping school, but hockey has helped draw them back to class, he says. (Leonardo Palleja/CBC)

Dumonski says some of his students have also been victims of sexual abuse.

These are some of the big problems facing the Keewatin-Patricia School Board, which oversees 23 schools in northwestern Ontario spread over an area the size of New Brunswick, including those in Sioux Lookout, a community of about 5,000 people 400 km northwest of Thunder Bay.

Watch "Hockey Academy" clip:  https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2682216809/

Coach Steve Dumonski helps one of his young students navigate the ice in Sioux Lookout, Ont., where schools are using hockey to keep kids out of trouble 1:01
Recently, the board came up with a solution to get kids more engaged in school: get them playing hockey.

It made hockey part of the phys-ed curriculum at several of its schools. At Sioux Mountain, students in grades one to six hit the ice once a week and grades seven and eight twice a week.

The program, dubbed "hockey academy," was started in 2012 by a gym teacher in Kenora named Dave Tresoor who noticed that some kids had no problem showing up regularly for hockey practice but had poor attendance when it came to school.

Sioux Lookout is a remote community of roughly 5,000 in northwestern Ontario, about 400 km northwest of Thunder Bay. 'There's a lot of drug and alcohol problems,' says resident Irene Shakakeesic, who is trying desperately to keep her grandchildren from encountering the same kind of addiction problems that her own daughter suffered from. (Leonardo Palleja/CBC)

"I looked at it as an opportunity to take something that they really liked, bring it into the school world, and we can combine the two, and it's been very successful," he said.

Twenty-two of the 23 kids who participated that first year have since graduated, and the program now exists in three communities in the region, with plans to expand to more next year.

No school, no ice time
The kids at Sioux Mountain don't have to pay to participate in the program, which is sponsored by Hockey Canada, and get brand new hockey gear through Jumpstart, a charitable organization focused on children and sport.

The only catch is if you don't go to school, or don't do your school work, you don't get on the ice.

Dumonski says that in the three months since the program was introduced at Sioux Mountain, it has turned one of his troubled students, 13-year-old Jericho Crane, around.

"He was late all the time, wasn't coming to school regularly, getting into some trouble at school, out of school. Hanging out with some older high school kids that were kind of leading him in the wrong direction," Dumonski said.

Jericho says that before he joined the hockey program, he had little interest in school.

"I wouldn't listen and all that. Just slack off, wouldn't do my work," he said.

He says having hockey in his life has made it easier to pay attention in class.

It helps that Dumonski is a mentor he can relate to both in the classroom and on the ice. He's Jericho's teacher and coach, but he also played five seasons of professional hockey in the East Coast Hockey League and the now defunct United Hockey League. He was invited to three NHL training camps.

Asked where he would be if he didn't have the hockey academy, Jericho says he's not sure but probably nowhere good.

"I'd probably be out of school, being out there and just getting into other stuff like bad stuff, mischief, like drugs and all that," he said. "[Hockey] keeps me out of that. So, I'm so lucky I have hockey just to get me away from that stuff."

One of the clearest signs the hockey program in Sioux Lookout is working can be seen after school at the local outdoor rink, where the ice is crowded with students like Jericho, practicing their moves and dreaming of making it.

"It's getting me out of trouble," says Jericho. "It's helping me. It's helping me on my hockey, my career. I'm hoping one day I'll be in the NHL."

Attendance up since program began
On a recent Thursday morning at Sioux Mountain, there is another sign the program is working: kids are arriving at school 45 minutes before the first bell. There are 105 kids in the hockey program, about a quarter of the school, and their attendance is up by 25 per cent since the program began, according to the principal.

The Shakakeesics live right across the street from the school, so they don't have to leave for class until the bell rings.

That Thursday, Shayden Shakakeesic-Day, 8, Jase Shakakeesic-Day, 7, and Honor Day, 6, are excited because they have hockey academy. They play with a makeshift tape puck in the basement before their grandmother, Irene Shakakeesic, calls them up to make their lunches.

Shakakeesic has taken care of the three since they were little, and they call her mom. Their biological mother struggled with addiction, and the siblings would have gone into the care of social services had Shakakeesic not stepped in.

"There's a lot of drug and alcohol problems [in the community]," Shakakeesic said.​ "That's one of the things that I really worry about my grandkids, especially with the problems that their mom had."

She says she is determined to keep them away from drugs and alcohol and in school.

"I kind of worry about, you know, what direction they're going to take as they get older," she said. "So, I'm kind of hoping with the hockey academy that could be an incentive for them to keep them in the sport. I want them to have a successful life."

Graduation is the goal
Back on the ice, Dumonski is running the Grade 7 and 8 students through their drills. Some of the kids have played hockey before; others can barely skate. Dumonski is teaching the kids skills, but he might also be filling a hole in their lives that goes beyond sport.

"Sometimes, you do feel like a dad," he says. "I have kids that come and give me a hug every morning. My daughters don't do that. You know what I mean? I try to have a connection with them, joke around with them, lay the hammer down when I have to."

The ultimate goal of the academy, even though the kids might not realize it, isn't to make them into hockey players but to get them to graduate. Graduation rates in the region are below the national average. Among students who identify as aboriginal, the rates are some of the lowest in the country: 53 per cent for four-year graduates and 61 per cent for those who take five years.

"If I graduate high school, I'll be the first one in my family to graduate high school," Jericho said. "That is kind of … exciting."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nick Purdon
Current Affairs Correspondent

Nick Purdon is a Current Affairs Correspondent with CBC News' The National. You can follow him on Twitter at @nickpurdoncbc

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No longer will opera enthusiasts in Thunder Bay need to watch productions in the local movie theatre or out of town. They now have the opportunity to watch it live – thanks to Lakehead alumna Theresa Thibert (HBA’08, BEd’13).

“People ask, ‘Why opera in Thunder Bay?’” says Theresa. “To me, it’s not a matter of why, but rather why not?”

After four years away, Theresa moved back to Thunder Bay because she loves the city and its arts community, which passionately supports both a successful professional theatre and symphony.

Opera Northwest, founded by Theresa along with friend and pianist Sean Kim, made its debut with a concert this past January. Theresa saw a big appetite for opera, signalling to her that there is also room for a local opera company.

Theresa, who is Opera Northwest’s artistic director, is now preparing a fully-staged production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro this June. Mozart is a favourite of hers. “His characters are relatable and his stories are big audience-pleasers.”

The Figaro production will feature Theresa along with other classically-trained and veteran singers from Thunder Bay, London, Mount Brydges, Toronto, and Kenora. Theresa wants local artists to keep working in their community. Opera Northwest is described as an opera company for young, emerging artists in Thunder Bay.

Theresa began performing in musicals at St. Patrick High School in Thunder Bay. Her love of singing and acting led her to Lakehead University’s music program. “Being able to study voice with a small faculty allowed me the opportunity to be asked to sing as a soloist with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, something I have now done three times,” she says.

Theresa also had one of the lead roles in Lakehead’s first opera, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, with director and conductor Professor Dean Jobin Bevans.

After Lakehead, Theresa attended the University of Manitoba for a Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Performance (opera), then received a full academic scholarship for a Master of Music (opera/vocal performance and pedagogy) at Western University.

She has since participated in many young artist development programs including the Canadian Operatic Arts Academy and Accademia Europea dell’Opera (AEDA) in Lucca, Tuscany.

While in Italy, Theresa sang roles from Handel, Puccini, Mozart, and Rossini operas – a career highlight, she says. Her others include solo performances with the Roy Coran Big Band, Mood Indigo Jazz, Cambrian Players, Orchestra London Canada, and singing anthems at Lakehead Thunderwolves hockey games.

She is returning, by special invitation, to Italy this summer to perform a third season with the AEDO in Tuscany singing Handel’s Radamisto.

Performing can be a challenging career choice. “This is a skill one needs to develop and exercise in order to work,” Theresa says. “If you’re willing to create your own art and opportunities, you will flourish and inspire others to perform and engage as well.”

For now, Theresa plans to continue teaching, directing, and pursuing her passion for theatre in Thunder Bay – motivating other local performers to create their own destinies.

At age nine, Gina Huneau (HBK’06) knew she wanted to be a leader in the health and fitness industry. “This is when I started taking karate classes," she says.  "By age 14, I was teaching them.  This childhood experience inspired my career.”

With her path set, Gina wasted no time, gaining certification as a group fitness leader and personal trainer. She spent many busy years teaching in Thunder Bay for the Parks & Recreation department, the 55+ Centre, community centres, and running her own business called Gina’s Designer Fitness.

Then, in 2000, Gina took her love of fitness to the next level by enrolling at Lakehead to pursue a degree in kinesiology, with a minor in sociology. This decision would lead to some of her most memorable personal and career achievements including, Gina says, “Being able to live my dream of owning my own gym.”

Returning to school was not easy. “I was working full time and going to university full time while being a single mom.” But her Lakehead days had many rewards. One of her classmates in a spring sociology course was her daughter. “I remember we shared our notes on lined paper! Few students had a laptop
back then.”

The camaraderie within her “kin” clan gave Gina many fun memories like “anatomy bell-ringer labs where, even if you got the answer right, if it was misspelled, it was wrong!” Happily,
she still gets to enjoy time with her “kin” when she gives presentations to students in the graduate program.

After Lakehead, Gina worked for a local gym before branching out on her own to run boot camps and outdoors training. Determined and driven, in 2011 she opened a beautiful 8,000-square-foot facility in Thunder Bay – Synergee Fitness.

As a certified kinesiologist, Gina has created more than a gym. Synergee is holistic – focusing on both its members’ health and fitness. Services include nutrition consulting, group fitness, personal training, and massage. Members can choose personal, semi-private, or small group training. “What is extra special about Synergee is that it is family run,” says Gina. “All of my children work for me in some capacity.”

Synergee is involved with family in another way. It collects members’ used gym shoes and donates them to the Underground Gym, which is owned and operated by Gina’s brother Peter Panetta. The Underground Gym provides free activities and meals to youth in need and promotes and teaches fitness, healthy lifestyles, and self-respect.

Doing what she loves. Working every day with her adult children. Living her dream.

Gina is convinced that these gifts came to her because of her approach to life. “Believe in yourself, have faith, stay positive, and on the right path, and you can attain all of your life dreams.” 

You’re seated in the audience.

Live, before your eyes, a song takes shape a piece at a time.

In just minutes, one man records each separate instrument, harmony, and sound effect in the song, then plays it all back to accompany him as he sings on stage.

You have just been treated to a performance.

This musical process, called “looping,” is his forte.

Jean-Paul, a Lakehead sociology alum (HBA’07/MA’09), has been building his musical career since 2007, touring nationally and internationally.

“Musically, I’ve been fortunate to tour around the world at festivals and concerts,” he says, “and to work with talented musicians and filmmakers to create new collaborative art.”

All of this exposure has paid off. He’s shared the stage with many notables including the Goo Goo Dolls and the Beach Boys. CBC regularly features his music and two of his videos, ‘Fix’ and ‘You’, have been broadcast on MuchMusic.

He just finished his first European tour and, most recently, was in Mexico performing at the International Live Looping Festival.

Jean-Paul was born in Thunder Bay in 1985 but was raised overseas in Africa, Asia, and South America before returning to Thunder Bay in 2001. His passion for music was kindled by singing with a cappella groups and barbershop choruses, playing trumpet/percussion with his high school band, and participating in the local music scene as a guitarist and vocalist with various rock bands.

In 2013, he participated in a composer mentorship program through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, followed by an artist entrepreneur professional development course from Coalition Music in 2014.

Jean-Paul is now a full time musician/entrepreneur, based in Thunder Bay, working in three areas: performance, composition for film/TV, and production for other artists. “After incorporating my business and receiving several grants to build a home studio in 2014,” he says, “I’m very eager to see how both my business and I develop.”

Jean-Paul also helps develop the careers of other musicians. He and two others run TBshows.com, a live entertainment-listing site catering to Thunder Bay. He has participated in four juries for the Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent On Recordings (FACTOR) and was a two-time jury member for the Ontario Arts Council.

“I’ve been very active in the local music community having worked with organizations like CILU Radio and the City of Thunder Bay to provide opportunities for local, regional, and national musicians to perform in Thunder Bay.”

Jean-Paul continues to stay connected to Lakehead, performing at orientation week events and at both The Study and The Outpost.

Good memories keep him connected as well. “There are specific moments that I remember fondly, whether in class, at The Study or even outside of campus,” he says. “But it’s the people that I connected to the most. Friendship, romance, and enough jokes to keep me laughing today are what I really treasure.”

Photo credit: Shannon Lepere

Dr. Somashekhar (Som) Naimpally, Lakehead University Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, published close to a dozen books and over 100 research papers in his lifetime.

His daughter Anuradha (Anu) and sons Shivshanker (Shiv) and Ravi were born in India. Som moved his family to several cities in the United States, Canada, and India before coming to Lakehead University as a mathematics teacher and researcher in 1971.

Their father was, his children say, endlessly passionate about math.

His success and passion for his work strongly influenced his children, as Anu and Shiv, both Lakehead alums, are deeply committed to their professions as well.

Anu is enjoying her 25th year as a dance professional. Both a performer and a teacher, Anu runs her own classical Indian dance school, Austin Dance India, in Texas.

After one year as a psychology major at Lakehead, Anu moved to India to study professional dance.  Three years later, she returned knowing she wanted to be a dancer and teacher. “I then took courses at Lakehead that I thought would benefit this role,” she says. “This was a great decision because some of the human development courses I took have been especially relevant to my work with children.”

Anu received her Honours Bachelor of Philosophy from Lakehead in 1986, then a Master of Fine Arts in Dance Ethnology from York University in ’88.

Shiv (BSc’79 in Mathematics/HBSc’85 in Computer Science) also took a roundabout path to his current profession. After many successful years with Nortel in software design, technical training, and marketing, he was laid off during the massive tech downturn in the early 2000s.

Having moved from Ottawa to Texas for a promotion, Shiv found himself starting over. While on contract with a local firm writing patent applications, he quickly became intrigued with the work and enrolled in law school to become a patent lawyer.

“Going to law school at the age of 45 seemed crazy at the time,” says Shiv, “but it worked out.”  He has written patent applications for many tech firms including IBM, AT&T, Microsoft, Amazon, Intel, and Dell.

“Having been a software designer, I have a deep understanding of the subject and am better able to grasp and explain the inventive concepts,” he says. “Working as a patent attorney is never boring because I get to learn new technology every week.”

Som and his wife Sudha were great lovers of the arts, particularly Indian classical music and dance – another passion passed down to their children. For this reason, both parents were very active in the community, bringing cultural and artistic events to the Thunder Bay area.

Anu teaches Bharata Natyam-style dance, which is the most popular of Indian dances, and shares this part of her culture with her community by participating in local festivals, events, arts education, and non-profit fundraising.

In 2015, she planned and conducted a performance tour for 36 people, including 18
of her dance students, to southern India. There, they performed at six historic temple heritage sites, honoured, she says, to share their art with local communities. “It was an unforgettable trip,” says Anu, “and I was humbled to travel as an official Cultural Ambassador for the City of Austin.”

Shiv, meanwhile, has developed his musical talents. He plays the tabla, a type of Indian hand percussion instrument. His father gave him lessons when he was 10, after which he pursued more serious training in India with his uncle, an accomplished tabla player.

“There were not many tabla players in Canada, so I was able to accompany many famous Indian musicians.” He performed in two concerts that the CBC broadcasted nationally. “I still remember what a thrill it was to get in my car and listen to my performance in Montreal on the radio!”

Shiv also played the tabla with the Ottawa-based Celtic folk band Imaginary Heaven, which has recorded several CDs. One of the songs he played on, Taken to Silence, was picked up by a major label for a compilation album called The Faire Celts. “It was so cool to discover the song while listening to the album at a Virgin records store in Texas!”

”Shiv still regularly performs with various artists and at fundraising concerts for causes like the India disaster relief and the Sankara Foundation (which provides free cataract surgeries in India).

Though Som passed away in 2014, his love of Indian art and strong belief in philanthropy live on. Anu and Shiv have made sure of that.

May 3, 2016, started out as an ordinary morning for Tommy Sullivan (BEd’13). He had no inkling that the wildfire roaring through northern Alberta would reach Fort McMurray that day.

The teacher and hockey coach left the Fort McMurray condo he shared with his wife Anna to drive to work at his school in nearby Fort McKay – a First Nation community of about 400. By lunchtime, smoke was rolling into the schoolyard, and at three o’clock, Anna sent him a photo of the fire nearing their condo building.

In a panic, Tommy rushed back to Fort McMurray. “Luckily a great friend got Anna out,” he says, “because when I got there, they were calling for a full evacuation.
Smoke was covering the city and the fire
was burning on both sides of the road.” Tommy headed back to Fort McKay – where the couple had an apartment – and Anna did the same. “Because Anna was stuck near the heart of ‘The Beast,’” Tommy says, “a journey north that normally takes 45 minutes, took
her four hours – the highway was jam packed with vehicles.”

The couple’s apartment quickly became a refuge. “At one point, there were about a dozen people staying there with us – friends, cousins, anyone who needed a spot. My school also became a shelter.”
Tommy and Anna were among the more fortunate survivors – when they returned to the devastated city, their condo was smoke damaged but still standing. Shortly after the fire, Tommy’s teaching contract ended and he was hired as the principal of the Sunchild First Nation’s K-12 school in the Rocky Mountain Foothills.

Teaching in Alberta is just the latest adventure in Tommy’s life. He grew up on a dairy farm in Earnscliffe, Prince Edward Island, and started playing hockey at the age of four – a sport that would shape his future. While studying international business at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, he played Tier II junior hockey and became a Certified Hockey Canada Coach and International Ice Hockey Federation Coach.

After earning his Bachelor of Commerce in 2000, Tommy lived in Korea where he coached hockey at the international level and worked in the regular school system. He also helped open a private Korean kindergarten and started a soccer club that still exists today. After three years in the after school private sector, Tommy landed a teaching position at an international school in Taiwan.

Then in 2012, Tommy found himself at a crossroads. His Taiwanese school couldn’t rehire him because he didn’t have a teaching degree. Undaunted, he returned to Canada and was accepted into the one-year education program at Lakehead University’s Orillia campus. “I loved the community feeling in Orillia,” he says. It was a whirlwind year – in between studying, Tommy met and married Anna, a fitness trainer and dog groomer.

Today, Tommy and Anna are taking on new challenges. Anna works as an education assistant at Sunchild School and the couple runs a personal growth through hockey program in the summers.

“Sunchild is a really big hockey community,” Tommy says. “They’re excited because I’ve been taught by the coaches of NHL players Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, and Alexander Ovechkin.” In 2017, Tommy is embarking on the next chapter of his life – starting a master of education degree and, more importantly, he and Anna are adopting a child.

Annette Butikofer has always been a self starter who jumps in with both feet. Currently, she’s responsible for about 4,000 IT professionals in her role as information technology branch assistant commissioner and CIO with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). “My team provides IT development and support services to the CRA, as well as to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA),” she explains.

Annette’s willingness to challenge herself was apparent even during her undergrad days. The Thunder Bay native studied business administration, majoring in management systems. “In my third year, I was asked to lead the development of a cost accounting program on behalf of the School of Business,” she says, “an opportunity I probably wouldn’t have had at a larger university.”

Annette is a first-generation Canadian (her mother was from Finland and her father from Switzerland) who grew up in a family of five. “Finances were limited and I wasn’t able to go away to university like so many kids do these days,” she says. By chance, Annette had a Lakehead connection before she enrolled as a student. Her father 
had worked in the University’s maintenance department until he passed away in 1977 and was responsible for painting the original abstract designs in the underground tunnel. Annette describes her Lakehead years as wonderful. “Remaining in Thunder Bay to attend university was not just the only option, but history shows it was the best option!”

Annette graduated in 1985 with her bachelor’s degree and immediately started a one-year work exchange with Telecom Australia in Melbourne, Australia. She was able to participate in this adventure through AIESEC, an organization that describes itself as “the world’s largest youth-led network creating positive impact through personal development and shared global experiences.”

Annette trained as a programmer/analyst and worked with four different project teams. “I gained analysis and programming experience across different technology platforms which made me very marketable.” When she returned to Canada in 1986, she was quickly hired by Woods Gordon Consulting and the Hudson’s Bay Company in Toronto.

Her switch to the public sector happened in 1991 when Annette joined the Canada Revenue Agency in Ottawa. She also continued her educational journey. In 1992, she became a Certified Management Accountant (CPA, CMA) and in 2013, she obtained a certificate in Public Sector Leadership and Governance from the University of Ottawa. Her leadership skills and work ethic have been noticed. In 1996 when Annette was a team leader, she was selected to represent the Information Technology Branch in the CRA’s executive development program. In 2009, she led the CRA team that won the gold medal for the Managed Distributed Environment (MDE) program in the IT Operations category and in 2014-15, she led the team that was given the CRA Award of Excellence in the Connie Roveto Governance Award category for Local Solutions Governance.

Despite all the accolades, she counts her family as her greatest joy. “I have two daughters, Véronique and Geneviève, and each and every day, they remind Paul and me of the importance of family.” Annette tries to spend as much time as possible with her children and when they were younger, she was an enthusiastic volunteer with their dance school and soccer associations.

Annette is a strong believer in “being open to opportunity, even if it scares you, because not only will you develop on a personal level, it will lead to new paths on a professional level.” She also encourages Lakehead University students and alumni to consider the diverse, and rewarding, government careers that are available to them. “Your public service needs you!”

One winter, former Thunder Bay deejay Brent Hawley (BA’01) packed up his belongings, sold off most of his real estate holdings, and moved to Hawaii.

After two decades in Northwestern Ontario, Brent had landed a job as a media management consultant for the largest group of radio stations in the Hawaiian Islands – the Pacific Media Group (PMG) in Kailua-Kona.

The position fit perfectly with Brent’s experience in the music industry and meant that he was in a place where he could “swim with turtles and manta rays and watch dolphins glide by my office window.”

Now, Brent has embarked on another major career shift. In December 2018, he relocated to Tampa, Florida, to become the IRONMAN Foundation Director of Development and Marketing – the charitable arm of the IRONMAN triathlon.

“Our athletes have built orphanages in South Africa, purchased lifesaving equipment for hospitals, and provided clean water in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria,” Brent says. “This job combines my passion for sport, my entrepreneurial spirit, and my legacy of leaving something positive in racing communities. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted all in one.”

Brent’s interest in endurance sports began after a serious motorcycle accident put him in a brace for eight months and left him barely able to walk. When his doctor recommended exercise as part of his rehabilitation, Brent made a snap decision. “I’ve always an extreme person, so I registered for a Team Diabetes marathon in Honolulu.” His father had type 2 diabetes and the idea of raising money to fight the disease was appealing. “It’s a global pandemic,” Brent explains, “more people die of complications from diabetes than cancer.”

Since his first marathon in 2009, Brent has generated over $150,000 for diabetes research for the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) and raced in Antarctica, Rome, Iceland, Peru, Honolulu, and Edinburgh. Initially, Brent’s embrace of athletics was a surprise to his friends and colleagues – his focus had always been music, not health and fitness. Not long after he moved from southern Ontario to attend Lakehead University, he established a successful DJ business, 2-Tone Music. The company was a regular fixture at Thunder Bay weddings and special occasions, including major charity events where Brent volunteered the company’s services. As well as running 2-Tone and taking classes, he was active in the Lakehead University Student Union during his undergraduate days.

Brent stayed in Thunder Bay after he’d earned his BA and was hired by Dougall Media – which owns several local radio and TV stations – and hosted a morning radio show for 15 years. It was on a dare from his co-host that Brent became a triathlete.

“We were chatting on air,” Brent recalls, “when he said to me, ‘You did that marathon, but if you want to be a real legend, you need to do an Ironman.’ By the end of the show, I’d registered for the 2011 triathlon in South Africa.” Since then Brent has competed in triathlons in Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Australia, and in Kona, Hawaii, at the IRONMAN World Championship. So when the opportunity to work for the IRONMAN Foundation opened up, Brent jumped at the chance. He also continues to compete in triathlons.

“Races are mentally tough and you’re in pain,” he says, “but nothing is more gratifying than finishing. The hardest part, really, is tying up your shoes every morning.”

Being a kid isn’t easy, and when everyday struggles are combined with challenging situations, a child’s self-esteem can plummet.

Matthew Chater, the President & CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada, believes that having a mentor can help turn things around for young people.

“I lived through bullying and isolation myself,” he says. “As a gay youth, I was targeted as different.”

Instead of letting this experience make him retreat from the world – Matthew who grew up in London, Ontario – became a champion for other children facing hardships. As a high school student, he did co-op placements as an elementary school education assistant and he volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS).

“Through my volunteer work I was able to share tools to navigate adversity with my ‘Little Brother,’” Matthew says. “When pro-social adults mentor young people, it builds up their confidence. They have to see it to be it.”

In university, Matthew studied psychology and education at Lakehead’s Thunder Bay campus and every summer he worked as a camp director with the YMCA of Western Ontario. His goal was to build a career focused on helping young people thrive and excel.

After graduating from Lakehead, Matthew returned to London to do a master’s degree in educational policy at Western University. It was also an opportunity to begin volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters again. While he was in the London BBBS office, a job posting for a mentoring coordinator caught his eye. “I’d been looking for part-time work while I was doing my master’s,” he explains.

It soon became a full-time role and Matthew rapidly worked his way up the ranks, eventually becoming the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of London and Area. Then, in May 2018, Matthew was chosen as the President and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada, headquartered in Toronto.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada is a federated organization comprised of 102 member agencies serving more than 1,100 communities across the country. Participation in BBBS programs supports social emotional competence, mental health and wellbeing, and educational and employment readiness.

“In the past,” Matthew says, “Big Brothers Big Sisters has been seen as a nice service, but not an essential service. This needs to change.”

Well-established brain science has found that childhood adversities can create toxic stress that negatively affects brain development. Fortunately, these effects aren’t irreversible.

“Research demonstrates that relationships and mentorship can help build the brain back up,” Matthew says. “Mentored youth and children are two times more likely to stay in school, more likely to get a higher paying job, and give back to their community.”

Matthew prides himself on the fact that BBBS is there to ensure that all young people realize their full potential – newcomers, Indigenous people, individuals with disabilities, children in care, children from single-parent homes, and urban, rural, and LGBTQ youth. He recognizes that young people’s needs are complex and that developmental relationships are crucial to their wellbeing and future success.

“When I was a kid and I was facing a tough moral or ethical dilemma,” Matthew says, “I would always ask my grandmother for guidance and advice. I want all young people to have opportunities to build networks of support through intentional mentorship.”