If you browsed through the six end-of-year issues of The Daily News that rounded up the “Top 30 Under 30” Nova Scotians you might have understandably wondered if it was actually a list of top achievers at AVֲ. A full 19 of the 30 cited as among the best “up-and-comers” in the region are either current Dal students or researchers, recent grads or have some other affiliation to the university.
The series focused on people like Dr. Lori Conners, a Dal medical school grad and former president of the medical students’ association at AVֲ. Lori is an internal-medicine resident who is also head of the association that negotiated with Maritime hospitals on behalf of residents. It also highlights people like Matthew Coffin, a former physics student and currently a research assistant working with Dr. Tom Duck on the Mars-bound LIDAR.
The list includes a varied collection of self-starters ranging from theatre grad Kristen Bell who has recently been a theatre mainstay around Nova Scotia and is moving to Toronto to pursue her television and film career, to computer science grad Malcom Rodgers, who built a patient-information program for orthopedic doctors at the QE II. And what listing would be complete without commerce graduate Adrienne Power, well known on campus from her student days as a track star. The Daily News even shines a light on current students like international development and environmental science student Zoë Caron who also works with the Sierra Youth Coalition, so-ordinating a sustainable campuses program for the region and co-authoring a book on global warming with Green Party leader Elizabeth May.
These leaders in their fields are shining examples of the kinds of young people who attend AVֲ. The newest generation of top achievers are ready to lead and to inspire others and it just goes to show – the road to the future of the region and the country runs straight through AVֲ.