Grace Jonson, 17-years-old from Toronto, ON (Jonson/Facebook).
The class of 2022 is discovering which university and program is right for them to reach their goals for the future. On Saturday, students—from all over the Greater Toronto Area and beyond—visited Western University’s March Break Open House for the chance to fire off their questions to staff members, and gain a sneak peek of the student life on campus. One incoming student that attended the open house already has it all figured out.
Grace Jonson has been accepted to Western for the medical science program, and at the age of 17, she is striving to become a paediatrician. Jonson’s hopes and dreams became clear when she was 14-years-old sitting in a doctor’s office unable to hear from her right ear.
“This was sudden. It just came one day, it wasn’t like a gradual onset. I was stunned and all I wanted was to be able to understand why. It’s very rare, a one in a million chance that this happens to someone my age, so they really don’t know what happened,” said Jonson.
As doctors tried to find an explanation as to why Jonson had randomly become deaf in her right ear, she gained many opportunities to volunteer and do research in hospitals.
“I got to see a lot of different fields of medicine and specialists to try and figure out my problem, which gave me better insights as to what all their jobs entail. The unknown and how much there still is to learn really fascinates me,” explained Jonson.
Luckily, the ability to have one-on-one conversations has not changed for Jonson, however, in larger situations with a substantial amount of people trying to listen to one conversation becomes challenging.
“It’s kind of nice for sleeping because it’s very quiet, I can just lie on my good ear then the room is silenced,” Jonson snickered.
It is common for a person to switch career paths; however, Jonson has her mind made up and is up for all its challenges.
“For me, it’s the most important thing right now for my future. I’m lucky to be able to go to school and I know Canada has great universities compared to other places in the world. You have to be passionate about studying or else you may not excel as well as you could. If you haven’t already, you will find out what pathway you want to pursue as a student, but it will come to you when you least expect it.”
Jonson is awaiting acceptances from other universities, but toured Western’s campus and residence in hopes of making it her new home. Lots of the staff were students sharing their experiences for visitors to open up questions to. Grace Jonson said it made it possible for her to picture herself away at university. Below is a clip of a campus/residence tour that thousands of students took part in to help them decide where they want to end up for school.
