Department of Economics

My name is Amy Oakley and I am a second year Economics and Statistics student in the Co-operative Education program at Memorial University of Newfoundland. I was born and raised in St. John's, Newfoundland. In 2004, I pursued my first degree from MUN which was a Bachelor of Arts in English and psychology. Upon graduation I took a gamble; I rented a warehouse by the airport, purchased a full sprung gymnastics floor and mats, and began Newfoundland's first All Star Cheerleading gym. My involvement in coaching cheerleading has taught me the value of teamwork and cooperation. While trying to generate successful teams that both worked well together and won at competitions, I quickly realized these goals were the same. Once my teams established strong relationships it was easy to implement effective practices and winning was often the result.

The lessons I learned about teamwork through coaching contributed to my successful transition into the world of financial advising. In 2008, I began working with Scotia Wealth Management as a receptionist as well. I independently studied my way through the Canadian Securities Courses, which resulted in my promotion to an Associate position in 2010. Having five years of experience working full time while simultaneously running my own business, has made me highly adept at time-management.

By 2014, I had developed a strong desire to learn more about the interaction of financial economics and statistics. Consequently, I left my associate position with Scotia Wealth Management to pursue a Bachelor of Science joint major in Economics and Statistics. My experience with financial advising, coupled with my entrepreneurial pursuits provided me a unique skill set to apply toward any challenges and learning opportunities that might present themselves.

The two features that most attracted me to return to Memorial University were the small class sizes in the Department of Economics and the Co-operative education component it offered. Leaving a full time secure job in today's economy is a scary venture, but I felt more confident that the Co-op program would help me to network with future businesses and colleagues, as well as teach me how to apply the new knowledge that I would acquire.

This semester I am conducting a research project for my first work term under the guidance of Dr. Locke and Dr. Masoudi. This project will be 'A Comparison of the Economic and Fiscal Implications of Newfoundland and Labrador in Switching from Its Existing Generic Offshore Oil Royalty to a New Generic R-Factor Royalty'. I am currently enjoying helping to develop the models that we will use to predict how the various royalty regimes would perform under hypothetical situations. This is an excellent opportunity to apply research and I am very grateful to the Collaborative Applied Research in Economics (C.A.R.E) for providing the funding for my first work term.

The most important life lesson that I have learned from my experiences is this: "Be fearless, take risks, and do things you're passionate about. Unless you put yourself out there, you can never truly reap the rewards from all the opportunities in life."