Bright futures ahead
Years of hard work paid off for hundreds of students who graduated from UBC Okanagan Friday morning. “It’s been the best four years ever,” said Kirsten Wells, a graduate of the nursing program. Wells took her first two years of nursing at Okanagan College before transferring to UBC Okanagan.
“I met the best people, and the teachers are awesome at both schools,” she said.
Before officially accepting her degree, Wells had already started working as a nurse on the surgical floor at Vernon Jubilee Hospital.
“I went straight from my practicum right into it,” she said. “Getting a paycheque after four years is awesome. It’s going to be just the start of my career. I’m excited.”
Wells said she hopes to work at a hospital in a bigger city one day, or maybe even come back to teach at UBC Okanagan.
For Kelowna native Erika Wiklund, the nursing program at UBC Okanagan was the perfect match.
“You don’t really want to leave a place like Kelowna,” she said. “It’s so nice, and the school’s got a really great reputation, especially the nursing program, so I definitely wanted to stay here.”
Wiklund appreciated all the hands-on experience she got during her program, including multiple practicums.
“They really push you, but if you rise to the challenge you really come out a strong nurse,” she said.
Along with nursing, graduates also received degrees in education, management, social work, human kinetics and more.
Kai McGrath, a graduate of the human kinetics program, said the people around him made his university experience a fun one.
“UBC was pretty awesome,” he said. “It’s what you make of it, but it really enables you to have good opportunities to do all the things you want to do.”
In particular, McGrath said he would highly recommend the human kinetics program at UBCO.
“It was really positive,” he said. “There are a lot of really awesome people and teachers.”
Walaa Moursi received a PhD in mathematics from UBC Okanagan this week, along with the Governor General’s academic gold medal, which is awarded to the student with the highest academic achievement in their class.
“Being a Governor General gold medal recipient is a great honour and an extremely prestigious recognition of my doctoral work,” said Moursi, adding her time at UBC Okanagan was a life-altering experience.
“I came to study mathematics because of its beauty, and while here, I learned how to convert this beauty into useful tools that contribute to solving real-life problems.”