PAULA LABONTE
Shayla Kroeze is a Rothwell Osnabrook graduate, former UCDSB student trustee and recently an inductee to the South Stormont Sports Hall of Fame for her contribution to The Rothwell-Osnabruck Lancers 2014 Girls High School Basketball Team.
Whom were SD&G champs for three years, played in the Eastern Ontario Championships for four years, winning two gold medals and one silver defeating double, triple, and quadruple “A” schools.
Shayla continued on to earn a Bachelor of Science with an honors specialization in environmental science and a Masters in Biology from Western University she has spent her most of her post secondary career around birds and butterflies and wading through rivers or avoiding polar bears up while on a recent research trip up north.
Lately she has been researching more ducks than chickadees since she was awarded one of only six 2023 $10,000 USD awards to support research on North American sea ducks from the Sea Duck Joint Venture Partner Organizations. The goal of the program is to increase the number of skilled early career professionals interested in sea duck research, management, and conservation in related fields.
In September 2023 she also won a $35,000 scholarship Issued by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada aimed to promote continued excellence in Canadian research by rewarding and retaining high-caliber doctoral students at Canadian institutions.
While this local young woman has seen much of Canada’s wildlife over the past few years nothing can quite compare to being at home with the chickadees.
