There will be three new faces this year when St. Thomas University hits the road looking for the potential class of 2015.
Ryan Baxter, Duncan Gallant and Angela Roy are familiar faces on campus. But while they graduated in 2010, they’re not ready to leave STU behind yet. Instead, they’ll be spending the year traveling to high schools across the country, promoting a university they know well.
Ryan Baxter is heading south.
The 2010 STU graduate, who received his BA with majors in political science and human rights, was added to the university’s recruitment team during the summer. The job will take him to the United States to recruit potential students throughout the school year.
Being a recent graduate gives Baxter an edge as a recruiter, as his knowledge of the school is already “quite thorough,” he said.
Originally from Riverview, NB, Baxter described his time at St. Thomas as “incredibly valuable” and “rewarding.” He
said the most important thing he learned during his undergraduate degree was “the imperativeness of reserving judgement in the absence of evidence.”
During his time at STU, Baxter took on the role of chief returning officer for the Students’ Union, was co-chair of the UNB/STU chapter of Habitat for Humanity, and was involved with Intercordia Canada and Model United Nations.
With his vast involvement during his time on campus, Baxter will have no shortage of stories and experiences to share with potential recruits.
“Over the course of the upcoming academic school year I am eager to share the highlights of [my] undergraduate career with potential applicants and challenge them to experience St. Thomas for themselves,” he said.
Duncan Gallant is a familiar face to many students at St. Thomas University.
Although he graduated earlier this year, receiving a BA with a political science major, Gallant will be back on campus this year as a member of the recruitment team.
You won’t see him around campus too often though, as Gallant is pegged to travel to Calgary, Vancouver and throughout Nova Scotia to talk to potential STU students.
“It seemed like a great opportunity to work for an institution I love. It allows me to travel and meet new people, and I get to talk about what a great place St. Thomas is,” Gallant said.
“What I liked most from my experience [at St. Thomas] was the people that I met. I made countless new friends and met new people, and I feel I was able to take something away from every person I met.
“Whether it was learning a new fact about a country someone was from or how to deal with certain type of behavior. I will always be thankful for the experience and knowledge I’ve gained from the people I’ve met.”
Gallant dedicated much of his time during his undergraduate years to student politics, serving in various capacities on the STUSU, the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations and New Brunswick Student Alliance.
Before he graduated, the Students’ Union named an award in his honour.
Gallant’s extensive work with the union should prove to be useful as a recruiter, but the lessons he learned in class will come in handy too.
“I have experience with working with other universities and what they offer, and I’m also familiar with the post-secondary education system in several provinces, as well as nationally,” Gallant said.
“I’m grateful for the lessons and the knowledge that I’ve taken from my classes and my professors. Now, I always try to understand the points of both sides of an argument and not pre-judge a situation.”
Angela Roy isn’t the same person that she was when she drove up to Rigby Hall in Sept. 2006.
Since then, she has gone on an exchange to Australia, served as president of her graduating class and welcomed hundreds of incoming students as the Students’ Union’s Welcome Week Chair in 2008 – to name a few things.
In June, Roy earned her BA with a double major in political science and history.
“STU provided me with an environment to explore my interests and pursue different ventures, allowing me to become the person that I am today. I learned a lot both inside and outside of the classroom,” Roy said.
As a member of the recruitment team, the job will take her to Prince Edward Island, Southern Ontario and parts of Nova Scotia to promote the university.
The idea of being a STU recruiter occurred to Roy in her second year.
“I remember seeing an advertisement for it then and thinking it was an amazing job. We get to work for our university, and travel around to various parts of the country telling students how much we loved our time there.
“Near the end of my fourth year I began thinking about it again, and when I saw another advertisement for it, I knew I had to apply.”
Roy will share some of her personal experiences at the university with the potential recruits during her travels.
She’ll tell them about the sense of community that she loves and the small atmosphere that allowed her to be more involved than she might have at a larger institution.
With four years gone by faster than she expected, Roy will try to impress upon students the importance of enjoying their time at university.
“I wish I had realized how quickly the four years would pass. Sometimes it feels like first year was just a few weeks ago.”
