CBU prof wins award
CBU lab instructor winner of Science Champion Discovery Award
SYDNEY — A fear of bugs helped a Sydney woman discover her passion for teaching science.
And Chantelle Cormier's passion for science education has resulted in her winning the Science Champion Discovery Award.
She was in her third year at Cape Breton University studying towards a bachelor of science majoring in biology when she decided to face her paralyzing terror of insects by taking an entomology class taught by David McCorquodale.
"It was not just hating them. I was fearful. I would be paralyzed with fear if something landed on me," said Cormier. "I'm still not a big fan of June bugs or earwigs."
Through McCorquodale's teaching, Cormier's fear turned to fascination and after CBU she continued her entomology education at Saint Mary's University in Halifax where she focused on carrion insect ecology — the study of insects that eat dead bodies.
"(McCorquodale) was fantastic," she said. "We got to learn science through his passion. It was infectious."
Not only did Cormier, who grew up in Westmount and now lives in Sydney River, go from hating bugs to loving them through McCorquodale's class, she also discovered her love for teaching.
One of her assignments was to bring science into the community and Cormier chose to work with a girl guide troop on an insect badge. The experience helped push her down a career path in education.
Since 2005, Cormier has been working at CBU as a lab instructor. In 2007, she was designated a permanent lab instructor and four years later was named a senior lab instructor.
Chair of the biology department at CBU since 2019, Cormier's dedication to teaching science extends beyond campus walls with her outreach programs at schools, shopping malls and other community events like festivals or fundraising fairs.
The faculty adviser for Let's Talk Science, a free afterschool program she organized for local schools, Cormier has also been on the organizing committees for Mall of Science, Science Rendezvous and Women in Science where she volunteers.
Cormier also served on the development committee for the Kwitn Program at Unama'ki College located at CBU.
Honoured to have won the champion award for her community outreach and dedication to science education, Cormier hopes youth will learn science is everywhere and a solid base in the subject is essential.
"Sure there are the white lab coat jobs you associate with science but there are lots of other jobs that it plays into. Take my daughter Kayla, who is technical director at the Highland Arts Theatre, she has to know physics, she has to know math (when she's building sets for example)," she said.
"I hope students, before they close the doors to science, realize how much it is used in other parts of their lives and how important a solid science foundation is."