PRINCE GEORGE – The University of Northern BC has announced the Valedictorians for the first in-person convocation since the pandemic.
The Class of 2022 will be represented by two graduates, Mackenzie Bouchard-Hooker and Dyra Pridham.
Bouchard Hooker is working as a teacher at Harwin Elementary while Pridham is a graduate of the UNBC Master of Business Administration program who recently moved to Vernon.
“I feel an innate and urgent need to be one of many educational leaders who act as catalysts for positive change in schools,” she says. “My goal is to make sure all of my students and their families feel welcome at school and that school is a safe place for students to learn and grow.”
This goal was at the core of her research for her Master of Education in Multidisciplinary Leadership degree. On May 27, Bouchard Hooker will receive her degree and give the valedictory address during the morning ceremony at UNBC’s 2022 Convocation.
“Being selected as a Valedictorian means I can give a voice to individuals who, like me, never imagined they could complete a rigorous post-secondary degree after starting a family and establishing a career path,” she says. “I am honoured to be acknowledged as an example of how success does not follow a straight line from high school to university — there is a lot in between, and it is the in between that matters.”
For Pridham, that meant starting with a diploma in Journalism from Langara College in 2007 and moving into careers in administration for BC Hydro and the City of Prince George.
