As Madison Hughes takes to the University of Guelph convocation stage next month, she looks forward to a new chapter in the fall.
Hughes, the first McCall MacBain Scholar from the University of Guelph, will begin a fully funded course-based master’s program in public health at McGill University in Montreal.
“I was thrilled when I found out. And I was excited to know that I was the first in Guelph,” Hughes said.
Of the 700 Canadian students who applied for the scholarships, 20 were selected along with 10 international students. Recipients are chosen based on character, community engagement, leadership potential, entrepreneurial spirit, academic strength and intellectual curiosity.
As an undergraduate student studying biomedical toxicology during the pandemic, Hughes was impacted by health policy.
“During the pandemic, I worked at a retirement home in Guelph, and I think that really gave me a unique opportunity to see how policy and public health measures were really affecting the people in my own community,” Hughes said.
“I started to look more at jobs that were involved directly in health care or public health. The pandemic brought my attention to those kinds of issues and pointed my education in that direction.”
For Hughes, it all began with a science course at Bishop Macdonell Catholic High School.
“My love for science started there and I really loved all of the science classes that I took,” Hughes said.
“That helped to point me towards my degree at the University of Guelph, and I have nothing but good things to say about my experience there."
Although excited to begin her master’s degree at McGill University in Montreal, Hughes said one of the toughest things will be leaving Guelph.
“I really love U of G. And I became involved with a few extra curricular activities that involved community service, health care, leadership and advocacy. I tried lots of different things during my undergrad,” she said.
Hughes was part of the University of Guelph cheerleading team, volunteered as an adult literacy tutor at Action Read Community Literacy, and founded a student club to draw awareness to eating disorders.
“I founded the Eating Disorder Awareness Society. We held a bunch of events, both fundraising and advocating for awareness around eating disorders,” Hughes said.
“This was my passion project during my time at the University of Guelph. I was a high-performance gymnast. This is something common in high performance athletes. So, this came from personal experience with the topic. It’s always been an issue that I’ve always been passionate about.”
Established in 2019 to create a comprehensive master’s-level scholarship, the McCall MacBain Scholarship is a program supported by a $200-million gift from John and Marcy McCall MacBain to build on academic excellence in Canada.
The program marks the country’s first comprehensive, leadership-driven scholarships for master’s and professional degree studies, modelled after the Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford.
Scholars connect with mentors and participate in the program while pursuing a fully funded master’s or professional degree at McGill University.
The application included a two-part interview process where Hughes met with the selection committee in Toronto. As one of 55 finalists, she was invited to Montreal for the next phase which included a weekend to meet with current McCall MacBain Scholars at the McGill campus.
“Everyone came to Montreal for a really immersive experience. That weekend made me super excited to know that I would be joining the next cohort,” Hughes said.
“The opportunities that I had during the pandemic gave me opportunities that I’m super passionate about and that I didn’t even know about before university.”
Hughes said she would like to pursue health care in the future.
"That is my goal, whether that’s from a public health perspective, or as a health care practitioner. But Canadian health care is something I’m really passionate about," she said.
"I'll start at McGill in August. I will meet all of the others in the cohort. I’ve never really spent time in Montreal, so I’m really excited about that.
“I have loved my time at U of G. It gave me great opportunities. The people that I meant along the way were so supportive and so important as mentors,” Hughes said.
“This has inspired me to keep pursuing my education. I have loved all of the schooling I’ve done so far, and I’m so excited to continue.”