Alumni Spotlight
The Bold and the Beautiful
Monday, April 9, 2018 /
Marina Rupcic (née Mesic) grew up watching the soap opera The Young and the Restless with her grandmother. Marina’s favourite character, the glamourous Ashley Abbott, worked in the lab of her family’s company – Jabot Cosmetics – creating luxury perfumes and makeup. The show sparked a lasting fascination in the young girl from Thunder Bay.
Andrew Petras Gets Down to Business
Monday, April 9, 2018 /
It wasn’t long ago that Andrew Petras (HBCom’13) was sitting in a lecture theatre learning about the fundamentals of economics. In five short years, Andrew has made a name for himself in the financial world, becoming one of the youngest financial consultants in Canada to achieve the designations Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU).
A Man on a Mission
Monday, March 5, 2018 /
Combining careers in medicine and the military has allowed Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Nugent to chart his own course and help fellow Canadians. Nathan joined the City of Belleville’s military reserve 25 years ago as an eager 18-year-old and he’s never looked back. “I enjoyed the camaraderie and being outdoors – it was an adventure. I was paid to go out with my friends on training exercises.”
Adventures in Forestry
Monday, February 5, 2018 /
Stephanie Seymour’s (MSCF'16) mother likes to tell her, “We gave you roots but we also gave you wings.” It’s advice that’s served Stephanie well. In July 2017, the Lakehead PhD student embarked on a career in natural resources. She now works for the Toronto branch of Ontario Power Generation (OPG) as a management and professional trainee in the Indigenous Relations Department.
Launching NASA Telescopes on Outer Space Odysseys
Monday, November 6, 2017 /
Colette Lepage (BEng’99) woke up with a sense of dread on the morning of May 11, 2009. The Space Shuttle Atlantis was preparing to blast into space for the final servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope and Colette – a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) engineer – would be there for the launch at the Kennedy Space Center.
Into The Deep
Monday, August 7, 2017 /
Last summer, Jason Epp (BEng’15, Electrical) descended 700 feet into the Atlantic Ocean to document a World War II battlefield that had never been seen by the human eye.
Teaching, Technology, and the Tragically Hip
Monday, June 19, 2017 /
Lyrics made popular by classic rock band The Tragically Hip wafted through the door of a tenth-grade classroom this past autumn. Inside, an unconventional history class was taking place at Thunder Bay’s Superior Collegiate and Vocational Institute.
A Dedicated and Dynamic Public Servant
Monday, May 15, 2017 /
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.
An Inspirational Student
Wednesday, April 19, 2017 /
Lakehead’s Thunder Bay campus was the last place that fine arts student Vanessa Magee thought she’d end up. “I didn’t enjoy high school and I didn’t think I was smart enough for university,” she explains.
Tommy Sullivan Finds his Calling in Small-Town Alberta
Thursday, March 16, 2017 /
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.