Related photo galleries : UPEI Convocation Charting a dream course JIM DAY The Guardian

Dr. Elizabeth Barrett, posing with a teaching horse at the Atlantic Veterinary College following graduation ceremonies Saturday at UPEI, says she can’t imagine being anything other than a horse vet. Guardian photo by Jim Day

A pony led Dr. Elizabeth Barrett down her career path.
The 25-year-old valedictorian for Saturday’s morning convocation at UPEI has enjoyed quite a ride with a passion that grew from the moment she first started galloping on horses at age eight.
Early on, Barrett, a native of Charlottetown, thought she would grow up to be an astronaut but, by about Grade 9, she decided she wanted to be a veterinarian.
Then what seemed to be a predetermined career took what she terms a religious interval. She went to bible school for a year and seriously considered going into ministry.
A pivotal conversation with a Baptist youth minister returned Barrett to her well-trodden path towards pursuing a career in healing ill and wounded horses rather than seeking a life devoted to healing damaged souls.
The minister told her: “If you can absolutely not imagine yourself doing anything else, then go into youth ministry, but otherwise you are going to end up hating it.’’
She realized then that she really couldn’t envision being anything other than a vet. Horses had her heart.
“I like (major understatement) horses and there is a Winston Churchill quote: ‘There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.’ So I guess that is kind of the way it is for me,’’ she said.
“It’s comfortable for me, yes, and it’s a passion and I love working with them,’’ she added.
“It’s amazing when you see an animal that you don’t think is going to make it to tomorrow and you can do something to change things around for them.’’
Next month, Barrett’s dream career begins when she starts a surgery internship working with standardbred race horses at “a huge practice’’ in Lexington, Kentucky.
More than 800 other students joined Barrett Saturday in crossing the stage at the Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre at UPEI to chase their dreams.
Some, like Barrett, will end up doing what they had long wanted. Others are about to enter careers that were first pursued with far less conviction.
Take Nicky McKenna, 21, of Stratford for example.
She gave little thought during high school to the work she wanted to do. She signed up for the nursing program at UPEI with no greater pull than having a friend apply for the course.
Her friend ended up not going, but McKenna decided to give it a shot. If she didn’t like it, she would likely switch into sciences.
“I was 17 when I graduated from high school and I didn’t have a clue really what I wanted to do,’’ she said.
The idea of nursing grew on McKenna, who graduated Saturday with a bachelor degree in science and nursing. She started working at Kings County Memorial Hospital last week. She likes the job but she won’t rule out shifting gears.
“I just figure I’m 21 and a few years down the road I still won’t be that old to go back to school,’’ she said. “I’m not closing the door to ever going back.’’
Jackie Strongman, a native Islander who lives in Sherbrooke, N.S., would surely be shocked if his daughter ever chose to change careers.
Jennifer Strongman, 24, picked up her bachelor of education degree on the weekend and could not be keener to teach elementary students.
“This was something she always wanted to do,’’ he said just moments after proudly watching his daughter accept her degree.
“Ever since she was little, she wanted to teach, and we just said, ‘go for it’.’’
Strongman says his daughter’s conviction in her chosen field never wavered. People suggested she consider other options, but they all were clearly wasting their words.
“She wanted to be a teacher and that was it.’’
Alice Stewart, 22, of Brackley Beach ended up with a bachelor of business administration degree Saturday through a process of elimination.
“I knew that I didn’t like sciences and I didn’t want to go into arts so the only other option was business.”
Within business, she narrowed her options to law and accounting, with the nod going to accounting.
Stewart, who is moving to Fort McMurray to do her chartered accountant course, admittedly did not lose a lot of sleep in choosing her course of action for a career.
Hoss Ghomashchi, 25, a native of Iran, has crafted a business plan that he is banking will lead him to a rewarding career. Ghomashchi, who worked at the front desk of a hotel as a teenager, is drawn to the hospitality industry.
He hopes the degree in bachelor of business administration that he received Saturday morning  at UPEI will get him into a good job with either the provincial or federal government.
In a few years, he plans to return to university to pursue an MBA then start his own business on P.E.I., preferably a hotel or restaurant.
Kathy Daley’s daughter, Lisa Bruce, came to university to build on a current career. Bruce, 29, married and mother of a 15-month-old boy, left Holland College before completing her business courses to work at Cooke Insurance.
About six years ago, she enrolled at UPEI to upgrade her education to allow her to climb the workforce ladder. Her bachelor of administration degree, says mom, should open more doors.
“It is definitely something she really wanted,’’ said Daley.
Richard Kurial, the dean of arts at UPEI, says conviction in their chosen fields is evident in the bachelor of arts graduates he sees each year walk across the stage.
“In terms of excelling at a particular discipline, there is the enthusiasm, the energy — I want to read more, I want to know more. That’s hard to put on.’’
Kurial, as do all professors, sees students who drift, are not attentive and struggle with their grades. Such students may need to come to the realization that this may not be the right place or it may not be the right time.
“A lot of times students come here because they don’t think about it at all and they get here and they begin to have a negative experience and then they think it’s the place without really understanding that they haven’t given a lot of thought to what it is they want to do or where it is they want to go with their lives,’’ he said.
Others, say Kurial, may take a year or two off university and return because they really want to be there. These students are far more prone to succeed.