Roxanne Cossette Completes CBUS Program
Roxanne Cossette walked proudly across the stage at USask Spring Convocation on June 7th to celebrate the completion of her Certificate in Business from the Edwards School of Business.
Making the decision to return to school as an adult learner after working full time for over fifteen years is no easy decision. Add balancing two young children to the mix and Roxanne Cossette had her hands full.
Roxanne celebrated the completion of her Certificate in Business (CBUS) from the Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) on June 7th. She walked proudly across convocation stage as her husband and two young children cheered her on.
“I always knew I wanted to go back to school, to further my education, but I started working at USask, got married, and had my daughter and figured it would be next to impossible,” said Cossette.
“But after my daughter was born and I knew I wanted more kids, I decided the time was now. I was going to show my children that it’s never too late to pursue your dreams.”
Roxanne started her first class in fall 2019, when her daughter was two years old. In March 2020, she found out she was expecting baby #2. In spring 2021, with her six-month-old son and three-year-old daughter at home, she decided to continue her studies while on maternity leave. When she returned to work from maternity leave, she continued her studies, while working full-time as an administrative assistant in the dean’s office at the College of Nursing.
“It was quite challenging to balance work, kids, and school, especially during a pandemic as my children were dependent on me during the day,” said Cossette. “There were a lot of late nights trying to complete assignments and study for exams, so I could work during the day and spend evenings and weekends with my family.”
Roxanne found ways to apply what she was learning in her studies to her position in nursing throughout her entire program. Now her certificate is complete, she looks forward to continuing to use the knowledge to improve her work.
“You take a variety of courses in the certificate program and I found I could link the content in all of them in some way to my position in the College of Nursing. For example, learning how people react to change in different ways will help me become a more understanding co-worker and learning about how stakeholders are affected by organizational change helps me with my relationships with nursing alumni.”
Roxanne started at the University of Saskatchewan in the College of Engineering in 2007 and joined the College of Nursing in 2012.
“I would like to thank everyone who supported me throughout my program, in particular, the College of Nursing Faculty and Staff Development committee and CUPE 1975; without their support, I financially would not have been able to achieve this.”
From everyone at the College of Nursing, congratulations Roxanne!