BVC in the Family: A mother and daughter show how lifelong learning is passed forward

Jaime and Kristin MacDonald share many powerful threads in their mother-daughter bond, but one of the most notable is Bow Valley College.

Jaime MacDonald began her studies in the college’s Human Resources Certificate 20 years ago while raising a young child and holding part-time jobs. The college’s online learning option gave her the flexibility to learn and balance all of her life’s responsibilities.

“I didn't know exactly where I was going to be able to go, but it was a more reasonable commitment versus a four-year program,” she recalls. Jaime ultimately completed the program in two years.

Flashing forward a few trips around the sun, Jaime has built a career in HR that led to Dentons Canada LLP, Canada’s Global Law Firm, where she now leads a large team of legal assistants.

As a proponent of Bow Valley College’s practical, work-integrated learning, Jaime is an advocate for the mentorship partnership between Dentons and the college’s Legal Assistant Diploma (LAD). To date, the partnership has seen students and mentors take part in group programming at Dentons' office, as well as having one-to-one meetings and touchpoints, with upcoming programming including lunch-and-learns.

Jaime lauds the working relationship she has with Terrence Bell, an instructor in the Legal Assistant Diploma, who is just as excited about the partnership between Dentons and Bow Valley College.

“As a former corporate lawyer turned educator who worked with many fantastic legal assistants over his career, I am just as excited as our students to be able to bring this to them,” shares Terrence. “The opportunity for students to gain first-hand exposure to what life will look like after graduation, and to begin to build relationships and bonds that will extend far beyond their time at Bow Valley College will undoubtedly enrich their overall learning experience.”

Jaime enthusiastically agrees, noting that the mentorship program is a way to give students access to the kind of professional guidance she once needed as a young learner.  Though she is not a legal assistant, Jaime works in the Dentons mentorship program matching the students and legal assistants and helping in connecting any dots within the organization. “We're happy to open our doors up and help them whatever way it makes sense.”

Many years after her mom, Kristin, the child Jaime raised while a student grew up and also chose Bow Valley College and the Human Resources Certificate. Kristin was working full-time but searching for a career that was a better fit. Perhaps just as significantly, her search was shaped by watching her mom, Jaime, help people in her line of work, applying strengths she realized she also had.

Now as a Senior HR Generalist with Evans Consoles in Calgary, she also focuses on supporting her colleagues. “I get the most enjoyment from being able to help them navigate difficult situations, ensuring they feel heard, respected, and valued,” she shares.

While Jaime and Kristin began their career journeys at different places in their lives, both benefitted from the freedom of online studies that Bow Valley College provides, and both praise the true to life, easy to follow, and well-structured curriculum of the Human Resources Certificate.

In addition to the flexibility to continue working full-time to pay the bills, Kristin notes there was something more personal behind her decision to apply to Bow Valley College. “I followed mom is what I did. We talked a lot when I was a teenager considering my career options,” Kristin says of her mom.  After a very short stint studying in Lethbridge, she asked Jaime whether she thought HR would be a good fit for her as well. “She inspired me to go into it to help people.”

It has worked out well – for both of them.

When asked what advice they would give students starting a path into a new field, Jaime and Kristin offer unsurprisingly similar views.

“Don’t do your job, do the job that needs to be done,” offers Jaime. “Do what needs to be done that day, be useful, and then take a step back and look around,” she adds.

Echoing her mom’s philosophy, but also calling back to her education, Kristin talks about being pragmatic. “Look for learning opportunities when you're starting in your new role. Try to self-identify where you can learn, where you can grow, and take some of your kind of training into your own hands. Show the initiative, because that is growing.”

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