Hayleigh Dansereau

Bachelor of Science, Biological Sciences
Governor General's Silver Medal (Degree)

I transferred to MacEwan from the University of Victoria after really struggling with large classes and being far from home. The “cooperation over competition” atmosphere at MacEwan helped me thrive – I went from barely passing and wanting to drop out of university to finding a program that I loved and excelled at.

My dream is medicine, and I’ve always been really interested in biology. I need to know the “why” behind things, so the cellular stream of biological sciences was perfect for me. And taking BIOL 208 ultimately changed my life. I met my two best friends in that class and later started working as a research assistant for Dr. Kevin Judge, who taught the course. Practicing lab techniques while doing fun fieldwork taught me so much and opened many doors. (It also resulted in strange looks from lots of people as I wandered random ditches with a bug net.)

Having things to ground me outside of school really helped me – volunteering as an assistant coach with the U18AA Edmonton Pandas female hockey team for three years and the North Central Impact U18AA a year before that. Hockey and rugby were my outlets on bad days. And getting up from my desk to do something I loved was often more productive than a night of studying.

Because of my experience as a research assistant and at the MacEwan Writing Centre, I now have an amazing job in the medical testing field. I’m taking a break to work before applying to medical school, where I hope to specialize in surgery or emergency medicine.

About the Governor General's Medal

The Governor General’s Silver Medal is awarded to the student who achieves the highest overall academic standing based on their Graduation Grade Point Average (GGPA) in a degree-level program. This medal is awarded at Spring Convocation.