Tabby took a year off from schooling to review her situation.  When she returned, she enrolled in a tree biology course that was the turning point in her education. The course was taught by Dr. Barbara Hawkins and Dr. Patrick Von Aderkas and involved hands-on field trips where students could identify species, see applications in silviculture, and experience areas of research. She says no other course throughout her university career inspired her like that one. Gaudet later saw an advertisement in class for a Summer Undergraduate Research Award and asked Barbara Hawkins if she would sponsor her; Hawkins agreed and that project turned into an honours and eventually into a poster at the first annual Faculty of Science Honours Fest.

Tabby enjoyed the process of designing and completing the project; this included working in the greenhouse and labs on campus as well as interacting with people in the Forestry Department at UVic and researchers at the Pacific Forestry Centre in Victoria.  She received an enormous amount of support from her supervisor, Barbara Hawkins, and credits her with helping to stay motivated to complete her degree.

Now employed at Pacificus Biological Services in Port Hardy, Tabby does environmental monitoring, stream assessments, fish and invertebrate surveys as well as diving expeditions.

Her advice to new students is “Choose your degree wisely and open yourself to life and its possibilities; you might not get what you think you want, but you just might find your niche. There were so many times that I thought I wasn’t good enough for something and that I was a shoe-in for other opportunities.  I was always pleasantly surprised by the actual outcome”.

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