Two calls brought Rachel Touchie to the Faculty of ALES - one from coyotes and one from a University of Alberta outreach program that encourages teenage girls to study science.
At a luncheon prior to the convocation ceremony for 272 ALES classmates, the new BSc grad in Conservation Biology recalled that she discovered her academic direction back in Grade 11, when she was chosen for a summer research experience through Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science and Technology.
Each year, the WISEST program chooses 60 high school students from across Alberta to be paid researchers for six weeks in fields such as science, engineering, nutrition and nursing.
"I got really optimistic about wanting to change the world," said Touchie, who worked alongside researchers studying coyotes in Edmonton's river valley.
She helped track the animals' movements by radio telemetry, interviewed residents who'd had coyotes in their backyards, and subsequently went looking for post-secondary applied science programs that dealt with wildlife.
She found what she wanted in the Department of Renewable Resource's Environmental and Conservation Sciences program. Her underlying desire to help society by applying scientific knowledge was reinforced in each course she studied during her four years there.
"It gave me so many tools (for discovering) how nature and people can work together," she said. "We need to give back instead of just always taking. Every professor talked about it in their own way."
As a result of the inspiration she found at ALES, Touchie will be heading to the University of Uppsala in Sweden in August to pursue a masters degree in sustainable development.
Her fellow students' successful years of study were heralded at the event as medals as awards were announced by Nat Kav, Associate Dean, Academic.
Ross Hobbs, who graduated with a BSc in Forestry with Distinction, was a triple winner, earning not only the Dean's Medal in ALES, but the Wood Science and Technology Prize, and the David Angus Graham Memorial Scholarship.
Britney Bernard received the Amy M. Coates Memorial Medal in Foods and Nutrition while Zachary Macdonald took the Alberta Institute of Agrologists Medal. Hau Ying Lau won the Medal in Food Science, and Shannon Fox the Warren W. and Ida E. Prevey Memorial Medal.
Other award winners included Kassia James and Leah Rodvang, who tied for the Harry Cornwell Undergraduate Award in Range Management; Phillip Bruner, who won both the Forest Biology Scholarship and the Jim Beck Prize in Forest Management; Danika Bonowicz, who won the Robert Simonet Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship; Deanna Larsen who received the Roy Herbert Ennismore Scholarship in Agriculture; and Nathan Zilinski, who won the Frank A. Coates Memorial Scholarship.
At a luncheon prior to the convocation ceremony for 272 ALES classmates, the new BSc grad in Conservation Biology recalled that she discovered her academic direction back in Grade 11, when she was chosen for a summer research experience through Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science and Technology.
Each year, the WISEST program chooses 60 high school students from across Alberta to be paid researchers for six weeks in fields such as science, engineering, nutrition and nursing.
"I got really optimistic about wanting to change the world," said Touchie, who worked alongside researchers studying coyotes in Edmonton's river valley.
She helped track the animals' movements by radio telemetry, interviewed residents who'd had coyotes in their backyards, and subsequently went looking for post-secondary applied science programs that dealt with wildlife.
She found what she wanted in the Department of Renewable Resource's Environmental and Conservation Sciences program. Her underlying desire to help society by applying scientific knowledge was reinforced in each course she studied during her four years there.
"It gave me so many tools (for discovering) how nature and people can work together," she said. "We need to give back instead of just always taking. Every professor talked about it in their own way."
As a result of the inspiration she found at ALES, Touchie will be heading to the University of Uppsala in Sweden in August to pursue a masters degree in sustainable development.
Her fellow students' successful years of study were heralded at the event as medals as awards were announced by Nat Kav, Associate Dean, Academic.
Ross Hobbs, who graduated with a BSc in Forestry with Distinction, was a triple winner, earning not only the Dean's Medal in ALES, but the Wood Science and Technology Prize, and the David Angus Graham Memorial Scholarship.
Britney Bernard received the Amy M. Coates Memorial Medal in Foods and Nutrition while Zachary Macdonald took the Alberta Institute of Agrologists Medal. Hau Ying Lau won the Medal in Food Science, and Shannon Fox the Warren W. and Ida E. Prevey Memorial Medal.
Other award winners included Kassia James and Leah Rodvang, who tied for the Harry Cornwell Undergraduate Award in Range Management; Phillip Bruner, who won both the Forest Biology Scholarship and the Jim Beck Prize in Forest Management; Danika Bonowicz, who won the Robert Simonet Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship; Deanna Larsen who received the Roy Herbert Ennismore Scholarship in Agriculture; and Nathan Zilinski, who won the Frank A. Coates Memorial Scholarship.