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Alumni Spotlight Shawn Graham, BEd '93 |
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by Derek Pleadwell, BA ‘93, BEd ‘94 Yet another alumnus is making waves on the political scene. St.Thomas University’s very own Shawn Graham, MLA for Kent County New Brunswick and Leader of the Official Opposition is representing the provincial Liberal party and has his sights set on becoming the next Premier of New Brunswick. Shawn graduated from St.Thomas University with a Bachelor of Education in 1993 and fondly reflects on his experience at the University during an interview in July of this year. He stated, “It was a top-notch education program. I remember the relationships we were able to develop between the instructors and my peers, my own classmates and at the same time the internships we did with the different schools, the networking that was involved. There is no doubt in my mind that it is the best Education program in Canada.” The conversation went on to illustrate Shawn’s enthusiasm for the University, passion for education and concern that it needs to be accessible to all of the people of this province. “I want to make sure that our University institutions don’t evolve into a two tier system where only the rich can afford to attend … we have to make sure that tuition increases remain stable. We can’t put the entire onus on the backs of the Universities as the government has a very important role to play…. I will work hard to make sure that the doors of post secondary education remain open.” “I think it is important that as a society we can’t have our graduating student’s crippled with such an overbearing debt that they are unable to contribute to society.” Shawn went on to stress the importance he places on addressing this issue of student debt as part of his Education platform while also emphasizing both Healthcare and Economic development. “… we once were ahead of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, even Quebec and Ontario in certain jurisdictions … we are now falling behind and for me that’s one of the most important things to address in my mandate. You could almost equate New Brunswick to St.Thomas University, where this province was once the little province that could, with everyone talking about it on a global stage, well the same could be said for St.Thomas as we went from a University that not many people knew across the country about 10 years ago to being renowned in a number of disciplines and now it’s the little university that could.” Upon conducting the interview for this article it became clear that Shawn Graham is highly motivated and that St.Thomas can help produce strong leaders. If you ask the
writers’ opinion, we not only have a little University and province
that could, and has, but we also have Shawn Graham as a proud St.Thomas
alumnus. This young New Brunswicker from Kent County could, and will,
be someone to watch in the coming months and years. |
Mr.
Shawn Graham in the official opposition office in Fredericton.