Lethbridge Polytechnic has named its valedictorian for the Fall 2024 convocation.
Therapeutic Recreation – Gerontology student Stephanie Leafloor has earned the honour of representing the last class of graduates from the institution when it was known as Lethbridge College.
Over the summer, the local institution transitioned from a college to a polytechnic.
This means Fall 2024 graduates will be the last students to receive a parchment from Lethbridge College. Leafloor will lead those graduates and give a speech at the convocation ceremony planned to start at 10 a.m. on Saturday, October 19.
“I was in complete shock,” Leafloor says. “I knew I had done well, but I never imagined this. It was a pretty proud moment for me.”
She earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average during her two-year diploma program, which she completed online.
“Stephanie proved to be a motivated and dedicated student,” says instructor Rena Walker. “She excelled academically and in work-integrated learning experiences, impressing her instructors and practicum preceptors with her ability to translate knowledge into tangible skills used to improve the well-being and quality of life of clients.”
Leafloor has experience with the local post-secondary, having graduated from the Practical Nursing program in 2009. Following several years working as a nurse in hospitals and other healthcare sites in Alberta, she decided to become a stay-at-home mom in 2017. Once her children were older, Leafloor decided to pursue a different path.
“I really loved working in the healthcare field,” she states. “I like helping people, I’m compassionate and caring, and one of the aspects of nursing that I found most rewarding was when I had the opportunity to sit down and communicate with my patients or play a game of cards with them while they were on dialysis or to just be there for them in different ways, so I thought therapeutic recreation would be a good route to go.”
Now, Leafloor is working toward her therapeutic recreation degree at the University of Lethbridge. “Because of my diploma, I actually enter the U of L as a third year, so I only have two more years left,” she explains.
“I’ve chosen to do it online because it worked out so well at the [polytechnic].”
More information about the Fall 2024 Convocation is available at the Lethbridge Polytechnic website.
READ MORE: Lethbridge College soon to become ‘Lethbridge Polytechnic’
