Hometown: Saskatoon
Program: Medical Laboratory Assistant
Campus: Saskatoon
“Even when things are rough and you feel like you will never finish, just keep swimming and push through.”
“I always said I would never go back to school, but here I am, a post-secondary graduate,” says Larissa Debray.
Enrolled in Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Medical Laboratory Assistant program, Larissa says motherhood was the catalyst that sparked her return to school. “After a few years of working different jobs and taking care of my first child, I knew I needed to go back to school to have a career for us,” she says.
The number of obstacles Larissa had to overcome to graduate still surprises her. She experienced a loss in her family, which coincided with the need to find new housing. She also discovered she was pregnant with her second child at the start of her program. “But that didn’t stop me,” she says.
She soon found guidance and encouragement from one of her instructors, who was “one of the most caring, understanding teachers I have ever met. She’s always willing to help push you in the right direction. Without her help, I probably wouldn’t have finished my program.”
Larissa shares her advice for prospective students: When life throws obstacles in your direction, “remember it’s just a bad day, week or month. It’s not a bad life. Things will work out in the end.”