Graduate Spotlight - Ainsley Lougheed

The Graduate Spotlight features exceptional students who have had unique journeys through Laurentian University. We celebrate these students and their accomplishments!

(June 6, 2023) - Being the first of her generation in her family to move away from home for school and being on her own, Ainsley Lougheed took any opportunity that came her way and paved her way to success. From Matheson, Ontario, four hours north of Sudbury, Lougheed expressed wanting to “stay in the North to show that you can stay where you’re from and still get to where you wanna go.”

Graduating with a degree in Biomedical Biology in June, Lougheed had the opportunity to complete an undergraduate thesis on soil enzyme activity and looks forward to seeing where this research experience will take her.

Lougheed stated being grateful for the support of her professors, the staff and faculty as well as the other students on campus who provided her guidance and support throughout the completion of her degree. This was especially pertinent throughout the pandemic and the return to in-person learning, specifically in the lab. “I had enough help and support from faculty who took the time to show me how to do all the things I missed so I could succeed. I would definitely say I had a good support team to help me.”

Being bilingual, Lougheed chose Laurentian in hopes to be able to grow and strengthen her French through the Laurentian community. With Lougheed’s francophone residence neighbour and her work experience at Laurentian, she was able to use her French often through engaging in herself in the community. She shared further that even if “you’re not quite strong enough in French, you don’t know if you can take those University courses, there’s plenty of opportunity to learn the language anyway by just being a part of the LU crew.”

Although Lougheed found the transition from high school to University challenging, she stated that “on our campus, there’s so many students that are willing to help you, we get lost together, we find stuff together, you’re not the only one looking around so I thought that was really good.” Her advice for incoming students is to “come a day early. It’s better to be lost when you’re not looking for something than when you’re on a deadline.”

Having lived in residence throughout the duration of her studies at Laurentian, Lougheed shared the importance of putting yourself out there and getting to know the other students on your floor. Throughout Lougheed’s four years in residence, she expressed feeling as though “you grow with residence.” She continued on to say that at the beginning she was excited for the experience but near the end of her degree she was ready for something new. “Residence had given me all it could and at that point, I decided to give back to residence by mentoring the first year students. I think I just got to the point where residence showed me that I could be by myself, they taught me the skills I needed to go live in the world and I think it’s just bittersweet. You can’t stay there forever but they give you what you need to go elsewhere.”

Lougheed stated that “Laurentian is a place where you can learn anything, you can work anywhere, and you can acquire any skills. It’s a big bubble of opportunity and it doesn’t matter why you came, you might just leave with something totally different than what you originally planned.” Lougheed contributed to her idea of Laurentian by supporting the community as a teaching assistant, volunteering with the Relay for Life club, representing the School of Natural Sciences in social media and much more. 

Lougheed has now secured herself a job working in various departments for MICs group of health services which are healthcare facilities located in her home community, thanks to her work in the Domestic Recruitment Office throughout her studies at Laurentian. “I came to Laurentian to get a degree to get into Med School. I didn’t make it the first time but I’m not going to give up and it’s because of all the opportunities Laurentian gave me while I was learning that program, that there’s a good job waiting for me back home. So you gotta take the opportunities at LU, don’t just do your degree!”

Given the numerous opportunities Laurentian has provided Lougheed with, she expressed being highly interested in keeping her connections with Laurentian following her graduation. “I still mentor the upcoming residence council and I’ll be available to them.” This includes contributing to a new peer mentor program. 

“I’d be happy to help in any way I can because Laurentian gave me a lot and I’m happy to give them something back.”