Home Stories Brittany Lam Ma

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Home Stories Brittany Lam Ma

Stories

First Year University

Staying at home to take my first year of university meant keeping my part-time job and not having to take out a student loan.

Brittany Lam Ma

Bachelor of Education

Program

Education

Campus

Tisdale (Main Campus)

Hometown

Tisdale, SK

Transcript

Read Brittany Lam Ma's Story

Brittany is a 2011 graduate of Tisdale Middle and Secondary School. In her grade 11 year, Brittany said she began to seriously explore post-secondary options and decided that staying at home for her first year of university was a win/win situation. Not only could she still enjoy living at home with her family for free, she could keep her part-time job which meant paying off her car loan and not having to get a student loan. “I loved the idea of settling into university studies without having to worry about all the other distractions in life such as cooking, laundry and homesickness.” It was a decision she does not regret.

Britt said she remembers many positive things from her time at Cumberland College. Adjusting to university-level English and math was tough so having her high school math teacher as the U of R math tutor made everything less scary. “It was great to see familiar faces everywhere I turned. I remember friends saying how overwhelming it was to be on campus with thousands of people and I would smile to myself and think thank goodness I chose to stay at home my first year!” Brittany said writing exams with four other students rather than one hundred, the welcoming staff and the opportunity to feel like you were part of a campus community were all benefits to starting out in a smaller school setting.

From her first-year experience at Cumberland, Britt said she felt more confident to go on campus and was better prepared to handle the academic challenges. She was excited to start the next step toward her degree but was a little worried that she would be the only one who was not on campus for the first year placing her at a disadvantage. She was pleasantly surprised at how many other students had stayed home in their respective communities taking university at a Regional College. Stepping into year two was a breeze.

Brittany convocated from the University of Regina in 2015 with a Bachelor of Education. She taught in the North East School Division for the first two years of her career teaching grades 1-3 at Star City School and grade 4 at Reynolds School in Melfort. She is currently employed with Regina Public school teaching Kindergarten and has now accepted a full-time permenant position teaching grade one and two. Brittany says, “I love my career because I am given the opportunity to work with children every day and to create excitement toward learning.” Her advice to other students is to always believe in yourself and do not be afraid to follow your heart. Not everyone has to move to the city after grade 12 to get an education. Check out your options close to home. You may be pleasantly surprised!

It is great to see College Alumni teaching our future generations of learners. We wish you continued success Brittany!