246天天好彩


A field of wild camas flowers

Lighting up lives

Shannon Smith feels at home in the Ey膿蕯 Sq葍鈥檒ewen (Indigenous Education and Community Connections) offices on Lansdowne campus.

Shannon Smith hanging out in the Ey膿蕯 Sq葍鈥檒ewen offices

Shannon Smith feels at home in the Ey膿蕯 Sq葍鈥檒ewen (Indigenous Education and Community Connections) offices on Lansdowne campus.

Shannon Smith is a first-year聽Practical Nursing聽student with a warm presence and a soft smile that lights up her face. She started Camosun鈥檚 Practical Nursing diploma program in September 2018, after completing the聽Indigenous Health Care Assistant (IHCA)聽certification last year and working in the field for six months. She continues to work part time as a health care assistant (HCA) while she takes classes at Camosun.

鈥淚 know I love this work because there are hard days, but there鈥檚 never a day that I don鈥檛 like,鈥 Shannon says.

Shannon took a long journey to Camosun. Of Gitxsan and Tsimshian ancestry, she grew up in Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia, what she describes as 鈥渁 little town at the end of the road.鈥 After being bullied as a child and high school student, she went through a dark time and finally moved to Kamloops with her boyfriend when she was 22 to start over. Three years later, the couple relocated to Victoria, pulled by the call of the ocean and a desire to be closer to Shannon鈥檚 grandmother.

Through all these transitions, Shannon discovered that she had a passion for caring for people. 鈥淚鈥檝e always been known as a caretaker,鈥 she says. 鈥淓ven during my troubled youth, my friends knew me as the 鈥榮treet mom.鈥 I was doing bad stuff, but I was also taking care of my friends.鈥

Once she landed in Victoria, Shannon spent time helping her grandmother and setting up her life in a new city. Then she found the IHCA program at Camosun. 鈥淓verything about the program felt right. And after I started classes, my grandmother told me that she had also worked as an HCA. When I showed her what I was learning, she was shocked at how much more HCAs are expected to know these days. She鈥檚 so proud of the path I鈥檝e taken.鈥

Given her relationship with her grandmother, it鈥檚 no surprise that Shannon has a way of connecting with the elderly residents that she works with. She recalls a resident who would ask about her after she was moved to another floor. 鈥淲hen I was giving this resident a bath once, she told me how it usually made her uncomfortable, but she felt comfortable and safe when I was there. That鈥檚 what really makes me happy, that the residents feel like they鈥檙e being taken care of.鈥

But even the most generous caretaker needs to be taken care of now and then. One of the reasons her experience at Camosun has been positive is that it feels like family. She spends time in the Ey膿蕯 Sq葍鈥檒ewen (Indigenous Education and Community Connections) offices on the Lansdowne campus. 鈥淚鈥檓 a big introvert. I get anxious in crowds and being around so many students. So when I can鈥檛 deal with it, I chat with the ladies in Ey膿蕯 Sq葍鈥檒ewen.鈥

As for her life beyond her Camosun education, Shannon feels optimistic and hopeful. She鈥檚 interested in furthering her education, by either becoming a Registered Nurse or Registered Psychiatric Nurse or possibly working with Indigenous youth in some capacity. Whatever path Shannon chooses, her warmth, genuine care, and compassion will light up the lives of the people she works with.

Contact information

246天天好彩 Foundation

Donor Relations

250-370-4233

foundation@camosun.ca