When I graduated from Haut-Lac in 2020, I definitely did not expect that a few years later I would be learning to fly aeroplanes in Canada.
By the time I left Haut-Lac, I had already lived in four different countries, so moving between different cultures and environments was something I had grown quite used to.
I went on to study Economics at Concordia University in Montréal. Economics felt like a natural choice: I enjoyed the analytical side and liked that it gave me a broad understanding of how markets, businesses and economies work. Alongside university, I worked remotely in marketing and communications for nearly three years, first part-time towards the end of my degree and then full-time for another year and a half.
I graduated from Concordia with my Bachelor’s degree in Economics in 2024, but by then I had started thinking more seriously about what I wanted my long-term career to look like.
Aviation had been an interest of mine for a long time, but for years I had treated it as exactly that: an interest. Eventually, I started considering whether it could become something I pursued professionally, and decided to make the jump.
In February 2026, I began my training at Collège Air Richelieu, just outside Montréal. It’s been quite different from university in ways I didn’t expect. Rather than focusing on one academic subject, I’m constantly combining weather, navigation, aircraft systems, regulations and, of course, flying.
So far, the training has taken me from my first flights in a small Cessna to flying solo and making my way to various airports across Québec and Ontario on my own. Looking back at how unfamiliar everything felt at the beginning, it’s quite satisfying to see how much has changed in a relatively short time.
My long-term goal is to fly for the airlines, but I also want to experience as many sides of aviation as possible along the way. Part of what attracts me to the industry is how much there is still to learn and experience beyond reaching one particular job.
In that sense, Haut-Lac prepared me less for one particular profession and more for being comfortable adapting to new countries, environments and directions. Growing up around different languages, cultures and backgrounds made that adaptability feel quite natural.
If I could give one piece of advice to current Haut-Lac students, it would be not to feel that the decisions you make at 17 or 18 have to define your entire career. Your first degree or first job can simply be part of figuring out what you want to do.
