Mark

Groulx

Geography
Atikokan, ON

The path that brought me to Lakehead University is perhaps not all that traditional. Having grown up only two hours west of Thunder Bay in the town of Atikokan, I spent my first two years as an undergraduate at the University of Manitoba, attempting to become a microbiologist, but also to find an identity that was distinct from my hometown. When I transferred to Lakehead’s Department of Geography as a third year undergraduate I found myself behind my colleagues in a lot of ways. Having trained for two years in the natural sciences, I was initially unprepared to cope with the uncertainty and complexity that is at the centre of society’s most pressing environmental issues. This could have become an insurmountable barrier. Instead, due in large part to the department of geography’s focus on student-centered learning and its commitment to individual students, I was able to not only succeed, but excel within my adopted academic discipline. The embodiment of this teaching ethos, at least for me, is captured in the department’s undergraduate thesis program. Having continued on to conduct two graduate degrees, I now appreciate that the independent research that was conducted by my honours thesis cohort was both formative, and easily of graduate quality. As I continue my own academic career, I am confident that the knowledge, skills and self-awareness that will carry me forward have grown out of my experiences as an undergraduate geographer at Lakehead University.