Laura Oldford (B.Rec.’08) was the first graduate and certified recreation therapist from HKR’s bachelor of recreation program. “I wrote the exam to become a licensed recreation therapist. Therapeutic recreation is a field that needs to grow, and to do so a baseline needs to happen. This is the baseline.”

Laura, who is now a therapist at the San Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation in Fredericton, New Brunswick, says it was a lot of work to get her to that point, as the course was fairly new at the time but it was worth it.

“It has definitely helped me in my career, as well as professionally. While I do not need to be certified in my current job, I feel that it certainly helped me get a job in a difficult market as a new graduate (the posting asked for 5 years experience).” After just completing her masters Laura is also looking at teaching next year, an opportunity would not be available without the certification.

Dr. Anne-Marie Sullivan who teaches recreation says these results certainly speaks to the calibre of the students coming out of HKR. "The TR students here at Memorial continue to surpass the national average,” noted Dr. Sullivan. “They are so lucky that their professors work hard to make coursework relevant to the field. Many course assignments get the students out in the field in various capacities which is a very important part of their training. Further, the classes are still pretty small in size and students get lots of individual support from the faculty members in recreation."