is putting his passion to work, and it is paying off.

You may have heard the Meg Whitman saying, “Do what you love and success will follow. Passion is the fuel behind a successful career.” NWP alumnus Dylan LaValley’s lived experience is compelling evidence that this certainly holds true for some.

Dylan, who graduated in June 2022 with a combined Bachelor of Science and Arts from the University of Lethbridge (U of L), had a few false starts before landing on his current path. After high school, he earned his Emergency Medical Responder ticket and spent some time working on the oil fields. It didn’t take long for him to realize that the downtime involved in this role, as well as being away from family, was not for him. Once back in Grande Prairie, he enrolled in (what was then) GPRC’s University Transfer program and spent a few semesters working towards a Bachelor of Science transfer, with a focus on Immunology and Infection.

“I was a lousy student,” Dylan admits ruefully. “Thankfully, I soon realized that to be successful, I needed to find something that I was truly interested in. Well, that and spend less time at Howler’s,” he says with a smile.

That’s when Dylan landed on what he now recognizes as his life’s path – the science of Psychology. “I am fascinated with trying to figure out why organisms do what they do,” he explains. “It was once I discovered my interest in this area that things really started to come together.”

Completing the first two years of his B. Science here in Grande Prairie was a tremendously positive experience for Dylan. “I have nothing but good things to say about my time at the institution,” he says. “I was able to live with my parents which helped to save money, as did the more affordable tuition relative to other universities. I also benefited from the smaller class sizes, both because it suits my personal learning style and provided me with increased opportunities to connect with the professors on a more personal level.”

It was through one of these personal connections that Dylan decided to add philosophy as a second area of focus, while still working towards his B. Science in Psych. “I credit Professor Strasbourg with introducing me to philosophy. I just find it incredibly interesting, and I see a lot of potential for how it can inform my scientific exploration,” explains Dylan.

NWP’s Bachelor of Science University Transfer is designed to align with requirements of the University of Alberta (U of A), but students do have the option of transferring their course work to other institutions as well. After completing his first two years, Dylan decided that the U of L was the place for him, both in terms of class size and the appeal of living in a municipality smaller than Edmonton or Calgary. “I would suggest to anyone who is thinking about transferring somewhere other than U of A to double check their chosen university’s requirements and make sure that they are on the right track for admission,” says Dylan.

Another piece of advice that Dylan has for students entering a university in their third year of study is to focus right from the start on connecting with professors and other academics in their area of interest. This is especially true if the student is planning, as is Dylan, to continue on into a master’s and PhD program. “The time goes faster than you’d think and as a third-year student who has just arrived, meeting and establishing relationships with mentors and advisors can be very beneficial.”

Dylan’s efforts to connect with like-minded academics paid off as he received a Chinook Summer Research Award thanks to his involvement with the Banzi lab within the U of L. “I feel really fortunate to be a part of this lab, and to have been awarded this annual grant,” says Dylan. “As my career goal is to work in the area of research and teaching, having the opportunity to work alongside and support these knowledgeable primatologists is great experience for me.”

His passion for his work brought about another recent accomplishment, which was having a paper published in the August 2022 issue of Theory & Psychology

It is an uncommon honour for an undergraduate to have their work accepted by this caliber of publication, which is described as a fully peerreviewed bi-monthly forum for theoretical and meta-theoretical analysis in psychology. This achievement is all the more noteworthy in that this paper was not part of Dylan’s formal studies but, as he puts it, “just seemed like something that needed to be said.”

He says he loved the process of writing the article, just as he loves nearly every aspect of his chosen field. “If I won the lottery tomorrow, I would still be pursuing the ends that I am now,” Dylan explains. “I simply enjoy it for what it is.”