[Music]
have you ever had something that just
seems so far beyond your grasp but you
never even dared to dream it one of
those things that you just label this
impossible well for me this is it this
is Antarctica and it is the the coldest
the windiest
and the driest continent on the planet
and yet it is also this this fragile
place of indescribable beauty and it’s a
place that I never imagined that I would
get to and I certainly never imagined
that I would go there with 75 other
women on the homeward van women in
science leadership expedition last
December and when I look at this photo I
still remember that feeling of utter
astonishment and an excitement it was a
real pinch me moment for me because this
isn’t something that I ever expected to
do and if you’d known me as a little
girl you wouldn’t have expected me to do
that either
and the reason is is because when I was
a little kid I was an exceptional under
achiever especially when it came to
school I worked really hard but I’ve
really struggled with school and also
suffered from this massive lack of
self-confidence and so I think it’s it’s
fair to say I was one of those kids who
just hated school and really the only
thing that got me through it were
recessed gym class and great friends so
this photo of me that look on my face
don’t let it fool you because it’s not a
look of happiness because I’d brought
home this wonderful school book as
homework not at all it was actually a
look of self-satisfaction because I just
broke her to deal with my mom we’d
agreed that if I read that entire school
book from cover to cover and one night
she’d give me a chocolate bar I know
isn’t it awful like bribing your kid to
do homework you know using chocolate but
these were desperate times and frankly I
was also you know as your early 1970s
and I was part of the kool-aid
generation so you know the whole idea of
bartering books in chocolate bars I mean
nobody back then a blink and I bet it
right I mean this wasn’t sort of a
typical thing in our household but it
was a move of utter desperation by my
mom who just needed to get me to
practice my reading because reading
didn’t come
to me and in fact the learning in the
classroom did not come easily it was a
real challenge and I remember you know
many Sunday nights where I’d cry myself
to sleep at night because I had to go to
school on Monday morning and you know I
know you’re probably thinking well
childhood jhamak dramas right I mean was
it really that bad and the answer is yes
it really was that bad for me
imagine that you’re eight years old in
your head school and are you sitting in
class well that well the teachers going
over the answers to the math columns
that you’ve been working on and she’s
asking students to share their answers
and you’re sitting there thinking oh god
is she gonna call on me and you’re just
sitting there and your palms are
sweating and your heart’s pounding and
you just have this real sense of dread
because you just know that this teacher
is gonna call on you and the problem is
is that you know that all of your
answers are wrong and you would give
anything for the teacher and all the
kids in that class not to know that and
so he sit there kind of staring down at
your desk not looking at the teacher
just their name you’d ask for what feels
like an eternity just waiting to see if
the teachers gonna call on you so
finally the lesson is over I can
thinking oh my god she didn’t call on me
I just dodged the bullet but then the
next day at school you have that same
sense of a fear and dread because this
time the teacher has asked the students
to read out loud and you would give
anything and I mean anything including
that really hard one chocolate bar not
to have to stumble across the words on
that page and read to the entire class
it was just something that I had a real
sense of shame a bit because if all the
other kids could do it why couldn’t I I
mean have you ever had that that feeling
that sense of shame where there was
something that you feel like you should
be able to do it but you can’t and you
desperately don’t want the people around
you to find out well that’s what school
was like for me in the 1970s and this
was back in the days when they didn’t
really diagnose learning disabilities
what they did was they put you into
remedial classes for extra work which
basically meant that they just piled
more the same work on top of you in the
hopes that well maybe she’ll get it what
didn’t I assign say
that the definition of insanity was
doing the same thing over and over again
and expecting a different result
well this is what remedial classes were
like for me it was it was just more
frustration about learning but it was
also a daily reminder of my inability to
achieve and it just made me feel really
stupid now I know I’m not the first kid
to ever struggle with school but for me
it was especially discouraging because
the only thing I ever wanted in life was
to be biologists I don’t know why but I
absolutely love nature and I remember
when I was 2 years old I started
collecting insects in our backyard here
in Ottawa and that’s funny because I
think my parents thought this was just a
phase that I was going through and you
know I have to say 50 years later I’m
still collecting insects in my backyard
so I think it’s you know we’re past the
point of this is just a phase but more
than anything I wanted to be a biologist
but how do you do that how do you go to
university to become a biologist when
you’re struggling so badly in school at
such a young age I mean for me that the
dream just wasn’t gonna happen but then
something changed for me when I kicked
grade five I had this wonderful teacher
at artstreet public school here in
Ottawa his name was mr. Salter and he
was a science net he just loves science
especially biology and was so cool he
actually built a beehive in our
classroom it was really amazing because
it was a wooden frame and I had a
honeycomb that was sandwiched between
two panes of glass and he was little
pipe that was connected to the outside
so the bees could come and go and I was
mesmerized by that thing I would I would
sit and stare at it and watch the bees
come in and do their little waggle dance
and I just thought this teacher was so
cool because we use in the classroom Wow
I realize now that yes he was an
exceptional teacher but it wasn’t just
about the bees it was because he was the
first teacher who who recognized I was
really struggling with school and rather
than just send me back to those remedial
classes he did something else he linked
my learning to something that I was
passionate about he linked my learning
to my love of nature and so by doing
this that shy little kid just wanted to
be a biologist so badly started to enjoy
learning for the first time I started to
enjoy learning in the classroom and has
that happened my self-confidence
increased and what as my self-confidence
increased my my ability to kind of slog
through those tough learning challenges
grew and so over time those feelings of
fear and dread and an anxiety bit about
school began to fade I mean it’s
interesting because I actually sort of
grew to learn to love learning and as
that process happened something else
happened as well it became gritty I mean
I still struggled but as my
self-confidence grew my my kind of
determination to kind of slog through
those challenges and keep going until I
finally got it until I finally figured
things out it started to brew as well
and don’t get me wrong there were still
tons of challenges and failures along
the way but something else happened I
became resilient for some reason I was
no longer afraid of failure it didn’t
bother me and so the first for the first
time in my life I studied actually step
it outside my my comfort zone and do
things that I normally would not have
done even they lose the risk that I can
fail and it’s interesting because I
remember back to my grade 13 chemistry
teacher who said to me don’t bother
applying to university you’ll never make
it don’t waste your time and I didn’t
say a word to him but in my own mind all
I could think of was yeah just watch me
and I’m happy to say that I ignored his
advice and I went on to graduate from
Carleton University with a honours
Bachelor of Science in biology and then
I went on to do masters and then a PhD
and so I went from that from a person
who just felt like they’d never
accomplished anything in life to
somebody who just refused to give up and
so that little kid who was just
terrified to give an answer to a math
problem in class went on to do things
that she never imagined pause
I am so lucky because I actually
achieved my dream of becoming a
biologist I was a university professor
and a research scientist and a career
that I just absolutely loved I was also
part of a team at university well for
pioneered something called DNA barcoding
it’s now a global research initiative
and it’s amazing because it’s given us a
tool now to inventory the diversity of
life on earth using short DNA sequences
and most recently I created my own
environmental education organization
which is focused on connecting people
especially young people to nature and
this is the thing that gets me out of
bed in the morning but it’s also my way
of paying it forward and I hope maybe
inspiring just a few young people much
the way that mr. Salter inspired me all
those years ago so what did I learn from
my my childhood journey well I learned
that not only is struggle good I think
it’s necessary I mean it’s hard I mean
so often it’s accompanied by failure and
who likes to fail you know put up your
hand if you love that feeling of falling
flat on your face yeah I haven’t seen
any hands going up it’s awful it feels
terrible and frankly can just suck but I
really think that failure is one of the
ways that we develop those things that
allow us to succeed in life and I think
from my own personal experiences I
believe that the recipe for success
involves three important things and when
we combine those important things it can
actually allow ordinary people to do
extraordinary things those three things
are passion grit and resilience to me
passion is the fuel that propels us
forward and it motivates us to take
chances because we want to accomplish
something so badly we’re willing to risk
failure to do it Brandon grit is the
thing that keeps us trying and it won’t
let us give up no matter what
but resilience is really important too
because it’s our ability to bounce back
it’s our ability to recover from failure
and to get back to being pretty again
Sir Edmund Hillary
said that you don’t have to be a hero to
accomplish great things you can simply
be an ordinary chap sufficiently
motivated to reach challenging goals and
I really believe this I think if you’re
passionate enough about something you’ll
risk failure to do it but I think
there’s another really important point
to make here and that’s that it’s not
just the chaps it’s us girls too we can
accomplish great things and I think we
need to do a much much better job of
inspiring and encouraging and and
motivating young girls to dream big and
to become extraordinary I also worry
though that I think society today has
has removed the opportunity for
challenge and struggling young people I
think when everybody’s a winner nobody
fails and everybody gets a medal just
for participating are we setting the bar
too low and are we removing the
opportunity for kids to become gritty
and resilient I think so and I worry
that by doing this we also remove the
opportunity for kids to go from ordinary
to extraordinary this is one of the
defining moments of my life as a
biologist who is so impatient about
nature to be sitting here on Deception
Island in Antarctica surrounded by
250,000 chinstrap penguins I had my
camera out and then I’m photographing
them on their nests and committing eggs
and and then this little fella wandered
up and we had a conversation this I I
don’t even have the words to tell you
how I felt at this moment or what this
experience meant to me all I can say is
that this is where passion printed and
resilience got me that same photo was
actually featured in a blog post by a
wonderful organization called 1 million
women and it was a it was an article
about three of us from that homeward
bound women in science leadership
expedition and it was about how each of
us in our in our own way was leading the
fight to protect the environment and I
have to say that you know when I think
back to those struggles as childhood
struggles and all the drama and you know
although there was those nights where I
cried myself to sleep I never thought
that they would lead me to something
like this before I leave you I want to
introduce you to mr. Salter my grade 5
teacher and I’m not sure where he is but
I am so happy over here here he is to
say that he is here in the audience
today
it was fantastic a couple of months ago
we met and I had the opportunity to
thank him in person for all he had done
for me as the most amazing teacher back
in 1975 I mean I really think that
teachers like him only come along once
in a lifetime and so I am phenomenally
grateful because I never realized that
the help that he would give me 42 years
ago would impact my life in such a
significant way so thank you very very
much
and finally to the folks out there who
are struggling I just have one message
and then ease don’t give up
brilliant Brit throw your resilience and
keep trying because I really and truly
hope that you too will one day have the
opportunity to look back on your life
and see what you’ve accomplished and
think wow who knew
thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
have you ever had something that just
seems so far beyond your grasp but you
never even dared to dream it one of
those things that you just label this
impossible well for me this is it this
is Antarctica and it is the the coldest
the windiest
and the driest continent on the planet
and yet it is also this this fragile
place of indescribable beauty and it’s a
place that I never imagined that I would
get to and I certainly never imagined
that I would go there with 75 other
women on the homeward van women in
science leadership expedition last
December and when I look at this photo I
still remember that feeling of utter
astonishment and an excitement it was a
real pinch me moment for me because this
isn’t something that I ever expected to
do and if you’d known me as a little
girl you wouldn’t have expected me to do
that either
and the reason is is because when I was
a little kid I was an exceptional under
achiever especially when it came to
school I worked really hard but I’ve
really struggled with school and also
suffered from this massive lack of
self-confidence and so I think it’s it’s
fair to say I was one of those kids who
just hated school and really the only
thing that got me through it were
recessed gym class and great friends so
this photo of me that look on my face
don’t let it fool you because it’s not a
look of happiness because I’d brought
home this wonderful school book as
homework not at all it was actually a
look of self-satisfaction because I just
broke her to deal with my mom we’d
agreed that if I read that entire school
book from cover to cover and one night
she’d give me a chocolate bar I know
isn’t it awful like bribing your kid to
do homework you know using chocolate but
these were desperate times and frankly I
was also you know as your early 1970s
and I was part of the kool-aid
generation so you know the whole idea of
bartering books in chocolate bars I mean
nobody back then a blink and I bet it
right I mean this wasn’t sort of a
typical thing in our household but it
was a move of utter desperation by my
mom who just needed to get me to
practice my reading because reading
didn’t come
to me and in fact the learning in the
classroom did not come easily it was a
real challenge and I remember you know
many Sunday nights where I’d cry myself
to sleep at night because I had to go to
school on Monday morning and you know I
know you’re probably thinking well
childhood jhamak dramas right I mean was
it really that bad and the answer is yes
it really was that bad for me
imagine that you’re eight years old in
your head school and are you sitting in
class well that well the teachers going
over the answers to the math columns
that you’ve been working on and she’s
asking students to share their answers
and you’re sitting there thinking oh god
is she gonna call on me and you’re just
sitting there and your palms are
sweating and your heart’s pounding and
you just have this real sense of dread
because you just know that this teacher
is gonna call on you and the problem is
is that you know that all of your
answers are wrong and you would give
anything for the teacher and all the
kids in that class not to know that and
so he sit there kind of staring down at
your desk not looking at the teacher
just their name you’d ask for what feels
like an eternity just waiting to see if
the teachers gonna call on you so
finally the lesson is over I can
thinking oh my god she didn’t call on me
I just dodged the bullet but then the
next day at school you have that same
sense of a fear and dread because this
time the teacher has asked the students
to read out loud and you would give
anything and I mean anything including
that really hard one chocolate bar not
to have to stumble across the words on
that page and read to the entire class
it was just something that I had a real
sense of shame a bit because if all the
other kids could do it why couldn’t I I
mean have you ever had that that feeling
that sense of shame where there was
something that you feel like you should
be able to do it but you can’t and you
desperately don’t want the people around
you to find out well that’s what school
was like for me in the 1970s and this
was back in the days when they didn’t
really diagnose learning disabilities
what they did was they put you into
remedial classes for extra work which
basically meant that they just piled
more the same work on top of you in the
hopes that well maybe she’ll get it what
didn’t I assign say
that the definition of insanity was
doing the same thing over and over again
and expecting a different result
well this is what remedial classes were
like for me it was it was just more
frustration about learning but it was
also a daily reminder of my inability to
achieve and it just made me feel really
stupid now I know I’m not the first kid
to ever struggle with school but for me
it was especially discouraging because
the only thing I ever wanted in life was
to be biologists I don’t know why but I
absolutely love nature and I remember
when I was 2 years old I started
collecting insects in our backyard here
in Ottawa and that’s funny because I
think my parents thought this was just a
phase that I was going through and you
know I have to say 50 years later I’m
still collecting insects in my backyard
so I think it’s you know we’re past the
point of this is just a phase but more
than anything I wanted to be a biologist
but how do you do that how do you go to
university to become a biologist when
you’re struggling so badly in school at
such a young age I mean for me that the
dream just wasn’t gonna happen but then
something changed for me when I kicked
grade five I had this wonderful teacher
at artstreet public school here in
Ottawa his name was mr. Salter and he
was a science net he just loves science
especially biology and was so cool he
actually built a beehive in our
classroom it was really amazing because
it was a wooden frame and I had a
honeycomb that was sandwiched between
two panes of glass and he was little
pipe that was connected to the outside
so the bees could come and go and I was
mesmerized by that thing I would I would
sit and stare at it and watch the bees
come in and do their little waggle dance
and I just thought this teacher was so
cool because we use in the classroom Wow
I realize now that yes he was an
exceptional teacher but it wasn’t just
about the bees it was because he was the
first teacher who who recognized I was
really struggling with school and rather
than just send me back to those remedial
classes he did something else he linked
my learning to something that I was
passionate about he linked my learning
to my love of nature and so by doing
this that shy little kid just wanted to
be a biologist so badly started to enjoy
learning for the first time I started to
enjoy learning in the classroom and has
that happened my self-confidence
increased and what as my self-confidence
increased my my ability to kind of slog
through those tough learning challenges
grew and so over time those feelings of
fear and dread and an anxiety bit about
school began to fade I mean it’s
interesting because I actually sort of
grew to learn to love learning and as
that process happened something else
happened as well it became gritty I mean
I still struggled but as my
self-confidence grew my my kind of
determination to kind of slog through
those challenges and keep going until I
finally got it until I finally figured
things out it started to brew as well
and don’t get me wrong there were still
tons of challenges and failures along
the way but something else happened I
became resilient for some reason I was
no longer afraid of failure it didn’t
bother me and so the first for the first
time in my life I studied actually step
it outside my my comfort zone and do
things that I normally would not have
done even they lose the risk that I can
fail and it’s interesting because I
remember back to my grade 13 chemistry
teacher who said to me don’t bother
applying to university you’ll never make
it don’t waste your time and I didn’t
say a word to him but in my own mind all
I could think of was yeah just watch me
and I’m happy to say that I ignored his
advice and I went on to graduate from
Carleton University with a honours
Bachelor of Science in biology and then
I went on to do masters and then a PhD
and so I went from that from a person
who just felt like they’d never
accomplished anything in life to
somebody who just refused to give up and
so that little kid who was just
terrified to give an answer to a math
problem in class went on to do things
that she never imagined pause
I am so lucky because I actually
achieved my dream of becoming a
biologist I was a university professor
and a research scientist and a career
that I just absolutely loved I was also
part of a team at university well for
pioneered something called DNA barcoding
it’s now a global research initiative
and it’s amazing because it’s given us a
tool now to inventory the diversity of
life on earth using short DNA sequences
and most recently I created my own
environmental education organization
which is focused on connecting people
especially young people to nature and
this is the thing that gets me out of
bed in the morning but it’s also my way
of paying it forward and I hope maybe
inspiring just a few young people much
the way that mr. Salter inspired me all
those years ago so what did I learn from
my my childhood journey well I learned
that not only is struggle good I think
it’s necessary I mean it’s hard I mean
so often it’s accompanied by failure and
who likes to fail you know put up your
hand if you love that feeling of falling
flat on your face yeah I haven’t seen
any hands going up it’s awful it feels
terrible and frankly can just suck but I
really think that failure is one of the
ways that we develop those things that
allow us to succeed in life and I think
from my own personal experiences I
believe that the recipe for success
involves three important things and when
we combine those important things it can
actually allow ordinary people to do
extraordinary things those three things
are passion grit and resilience to me
passion is the fuel that propels us
forward and it motivates us to take
chances because we want to accomplish
something so badly we’re willing to risk
failure to do it Brandon grit is the
thing that keeps us trying and it won’t
let us give up no matter what
but resilience is really important too
because it’s our ability to bounce back
it’s our ability to recover from failure
and to get back to being pretty again
Sir Edmund Hillary
said that you don’t have to be a hero to
accomplish great things you can simply
be an ordinary chap sufficiently
motivated to reach challenging goals and
I really believe this I think if you’re
passionate enough about something you’ll
risk failure to do it but I think
there’s another really important point
to make here and that’s that it’s not
just the chaps it’s us girls too we can
accomplish great things and I think we
need to do a much much better job of
inspiring and encouraging and and
motivating young girls to dream big and
to become extraordinary I also worry
though that I think society today has
has removed the opportunity for
challenge and struggling young people I
think when everybody’s a winner nobody
fails and everybody gets a medal just
for participating are we setting the bar
too low and are we removing the
opportunity for kids to become gritty
and resilient I think so and I worry
that by doing this we also remove the
opportunity for kids to go from ordinary
to extraordinary this is one of the
defining moments of my life as a
biologist who is so impatient about
nature to be sitting here on Deception
Island in Antarctica surrounded by
250,000 chinstrap penguins I had my
camera out and then I’m photographing
them on their nests and committing eggs
and and then this little fella wandered
up and we had a conversation this I I
don’t even have the words to tell you
how I felt at this moment or what this
experience meant to me all I can say is
that this is where passion printed and
resilience got me that same photo was
actually featured in a blog post by a
wonderful organization called 1 million
women and it was a it was an article
about three of us from that homeward
bound women in science leadership
expedition and it was about how each of
us in our in our own way was leading the
fight to protect the environment and I
have to say that you know when I think
back to those struggles as childhood
struggles and all the drama and you know
although there was those nights where I
cried myself to sleep I never thought
that they would lead me to something
like this before I leave you I want to
introduce you to mr. Salter my grade 5
teacher and I’m not sure where he is but
I am so happy over here here he is to
say that he is here in the audience
today
it was fantastic a couple of months ago
we met and I had the opportunity to
thank him in person for all he had done
for me as the most amazing teacher back
in 1975 I mean I really think that
teachers like him only come along once
in a lifetime and so I am phenomenally
grateful because I never realized that
the help that he would give me 42 years
ago would impact my life in such a
significant way so thank you very very
much
and finally to the folks out there who
are struggling I just have one message
and then ease don’t give up
brilliant Brit throw your resilience and
keep trying because I really and truly
hope that you too will one day have the
opportunity to look back on your life
and see what you’ve accomplished and
think wow who knew
thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
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