SYDNEY, N.S. — This year's Marconi Campus valedictorian isn’t used to the spotlight, but Charmaine Greencorn is both humbled and honoured.
“Six months later and I’m still getting shocked and surprised,” said Greencorn.
The 2020 convocation for Nova Scotia Community College is set to take place online at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Greencorn is originally from Potlotek First Nation and graduated with a certificate in medical office administration. She’s now living in Sydney Forks and is working and attending courses to obtain a bachelor of arts from Cape Breton University.
Greencorn was inspired to go into medical office administration after a 2015 battle with cancer. She visited the regional hospital about 70 times that year while receiving treatments and thought about the lack of visible Indigenous people working at the hospital.
“I just thought if there was someone there and was able to greet patients and people in our native language that would be nice,” said Greencorn.
And that inspired her dream career. She's bilingual in English and Mi’kmaw and hopes to greet people in both languages as they navigate the medical facility.
Originally the convocation was scheduled for the spring, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed those plans. Greencorn said the other challenge this graduating class faced because of the pandemic was the lack of job placements.
“Because of COVID we didn’t get to see the work placements,” she said.
And she feels with a competitive job market those work placements were at least a foot in the door, but she’ll keep working toward her career goal and believes something will come up someday.
But the featured spotlight is something she might never get used to.
“This is all really weird for me,” said Greencorn.
She had to present her valedictorian speech before she was selected in a kind of speech off and she was delighted to be selected. Greencorn credits Terri-Anne Johnson for her nomination and is looking forward to watching the convocation like everybody else.
NSCC’s virtual convocation can be found on their website or Facebook page. The ceremony will include the country’s anthem, smudging and prayer and a performance from an African drum group, among other things.
Notable awards from the Marconi Campus include the Board of Governors' Award, John MacEwan, diploma in social services; Governor General Academic Medal, Justin Jewer, diploma in power engineering technology; NSCC Gold Medal, Mary MacDonald, certificate in medical office administration; NSCC Alumni Award, Shirley Christmas, Nova Scotia high school graduation diploma for adults; and President’s Award, David Doucette, certificate in applied media and communication arts.
Across NSCC campuses, a red spruce tree planting will also take place to commemorate the class of 2020.
