Heather Avis completed her bachelor of nursing in 2009. In her current position her main responsibilities are in the area of public health, but she also works in a teen and young adult health clinic.

"I began taking my post-RN BN through another university but quickly found that commuting into the city for classes in the evening after work was exhausting. Then kids came along and I wanted to have more flexibility. So when my youngest went into Grade 1, I went back to school.

"This experience has been a very positive one for me. The tutors were always so helpful and encouraging, and the courses were well laid out. I was nervous going into a distance learning program but once I got going, I found I really loved the ability to work my studies around my family and work schedule.

"One of my most comical and memorable moments will always be when I finished a course I didn't enjoy particularly. As is our annual tradition, my family and I were around our backyard firepit burning our year-end school work. I have kept most of my textbooks, but this particular one (I thought) was not a keeper, so my son took the hatchet to it and bore a hole through the centre of it. A friend of my daughters retrieved the sorry-looking book and took it home, later to present it to me in a shadow-box frame. It now hangs in my office!

"I feel that one of the greatest achievements in this educational endeavour was showing my children that learning is a lifelong experience."