"I want to be a doctor."
That's the career Ashley Holyk, 16, intends to pursue, and she is working diligently toward achieving her goal.
The Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School (PSO) student says she learned a lot about the many skills she will need at the Find Your Fit tour showcasing the province's in-demand jobs at PSO on Nov. 24.
"I might want to be a military doctor – I might want to go that route – but I'm not 100 per cent sure. I want to take a science and I'll see when I go to university ... I might want to just be a research scientist."
However, her preferred field of study is human sciences, Ashley says, adding she wants to major in biochemistry, with a minor in psychology.
The Grade 11 student says she explored some of her skills in psychology, which "really interests" her, thanks to Find Your Fit and its tour presenters.
"I was talking to one of the ladies, and we did some kind of social services test over at the social centre."
That [kiosk] helps gauge if you are suitable for social work by testing if students can correctly interpret facial expressions, she explains.
"I did pretty well on that."
Ashley says she was shown many other ways to help prepare for her particular goals in the medical field, including various websites offering information and other tests for determining career suitability.
Her mother, Tammy Levesque-Holyk, was also at the tour and she says she "absolutely" supports her daughter's wishes to study medicine.
The tour allowed Ashley to "get hands-on and delve into it," Tammy adds.
"I think it's really important to look at furthering your education after you graduate, so I think [Find Your Fit] is the perfect opportunity to come out and see what options there are for graduates, and even before."
Tammy says it offers a "super" chance to see where a student's preference, skills and abilities lie.
Ashley's sister, Megan, 11, came to Find Your Fit earlier in the day with her Grade 6 class, their mother notes.
"My younger daughter was sort of experimenting with different things and seeing what her interests are."
Tammy says their whole family encourages an interest in post-secondary education – whether it is in academics or trades training – and the tour brought Ashley "one step closer to the goal."
Ashley adds she learned a lot about what preparation and skills she will need to pursue a career in medicine from all the new information at the tour.
"I was looking at what the different courses are offered. One website they show you if you want to go into this specific program, all the universities in British Columbia that offer it and I found a few different programs that I didn't know were offered."
It was "definitely pretty exciting" to gain all this additional information, she says.
"I found exactly what courses I need to do in Grades 11 and 12 to get into the course I would like to get into."