Three years ago a Millarville teen was on the brink of dropping out of school. Now, she is on her way to becoming a doctor.
Oilfields High School graduand May Bunn spent the first nine years of her education feeling like she didn’t fit in and was repeatedly told by teachers that she wasn’t trying hard enough.
Bunn felt she was doing the best she could and couldn’t understand why she wasn’t getting the grades people expected of her.
“I just felt like I didn’t fit in with the school system,” she said. “I felt like when I tried in school I just didn’t get the results that I wanted. I never met up to the expectations that people had for me. I had a lot of teachers when I was younger saying I wasn’t trying when I did think that I was. I didn’t understand myself and I felt like no one else understood me.”
Three years ago, Bunn was ready to give up.
“Grade 9 was probably my worst year,” she said. “I didn’t put in any effort at all. I just stopped going to school. I actually wanted to drop out, but I wasn’t able to. My parents wouldn’t let me, which is a good thing.”
It was her experience volunteering overseas during the Christmas break in her Grade 10 year that began a life-altering change in Bunn.
Her family traveled to Costa Rica on a mission trip to deliver gifts to children for Operation Christmas Child’s Samaritan’s Purse International Relief program.
“When you go there you just see how much you take for granted,” she said. “A lot of kids didn’t go to school or have a safe place to live. A lot of them work at a young age and sometimes school was too far away to go to. I’m sure some of them couldn’t afford it either.”
Even more impactful was Bunn’s seven-week trip to Haiti the following summer to help build an orphanage through Teen Missions International.
“There it was totally normal for kids not to go to school,” she said. “They didn’t even consider it. They have a lot less than even the people in Costa Rica had.”
When Bunn returned to Oilfields High School in Grade 11 her attitude had changed.
With a goal of travelling to third-world countries as a nurse or doctor to help people, Bunn knew she would have to work hard in the coming years.
“I realized that I wanted to help these people,” she said. “I thought if I want to get to this point I have to work for it even though it doesn’t feel like a place that I would like to be in or a place that I’m at my best at. I realized you’ve got to get through it in order to get to where you want to go.”
Bunn started getting extra help with the classes she was struggling in, which brought up her grades and allowed her to enrol in practical nursing at Bow Valley College.
“I’d like to travel in the future with my medical profession, whether it be nursing or a doctor,” she said. “I really enjoy helping people out.”
She even began working as a community aide and respite worker, assisting a young boy who has ADHD and autism in the community this year.
“He’s gone a lot further since I started working with him,” she said. “I like seeing his progress. Just seeing that is a really good feeling.”
For other teens struggling in school, Bunn has some words of advice.
“You’ve just got to find what you like and then pursue it – something you’re passionate about and something you really feel you would love to do for the rest of your life,” she said. “You can get anywhere you want if you put in the effort. There really aren’t any limits.”
