Current Students

When Chiara Sedola wrote a paper for a VIU class, she had no idea her work would take her to Washington, DC to present at a conference.

But that’s exactly how things played out for the fourth-year student, who is majoring in Liberal Studies and Biology.

It was while working a “crappy” job that Philip Lawton decided it was time to figure out what he wanted to do for a career. He thought the Adult Basic Education (ABE) program at VIU would be a good place to start.

“I’m 32 and left high school 16 years ago, so my transcripts are bit archaic to say the least, and I probably needed an upgraded anyways,” he says. “My wife had a good experience at VIU, so I knew about the program and decided to check it out.”

Tyson Whitney, Editor of the North Island Gazette and a VIU Creative Writing and Journalism alum, received his greatest honour to date this year when he earned a gold medal at the British Columbia and Yukon Community Newspaper Association’s Ma Murray awards show.

We hope your semester is going well! Read this newsletter to learn more about some supports that could help you ... and a few distractions to take advantage of the beautiful weather we have been having!

In this issue: 

For Logan Cursley and Esther Popma, their chosen career path already looks promising, as they have both qualified to compete in their fields at the Skills Canada Nationals competition in Quebec this week.

Amy Mattes, a VIU Creative Writing student, drew inspiration from experiences of her youth to write her debut fictional novel, Late September. 

Late September tells the story of Ines, a young, grief-stricken skateboarder who is trying to leave her past behind to become someone else. She learns along the way that you can’t change who you’ve been.

You’ve registered for your classes. Now, you’re looking forward to some fun and rest before university starts up in the fall. Great! But before you head out on your adventures, there’s one more thing you should think about now. Where will you live?  

We hope the semester has gotten off to a good start! In this issue: 

Claire Gordon says it’s “exciting and unbelievable” to have her undergraduate research paper published by the Queen City Writers, a journal of undergraduate writing and composing.