Matthew Heans has won multiple awards and scholarships during his three years at UNB Saint John, prizes he says have opened doors of opportunity and knowledge to a kid from small town New Brunswick.
Matthew is in the final year of a bachelor of arts in philosophy and politics. He says he has been helped enormously in his academic pursuits by the awards he has received, including the Carl Fraser (BBA 1974) Student Award, the Alumni Student Leadership Award, the Prof. Jack A. Iwanicki Scholarship and the MacLauchlan Prize for Effective Writing.
Matthew grew up in Rothesay, N.B., but not in the wealthy part of town, he says. He credits the awards he has received with allowing him to experience at UNB what he describes as an intellectual and cultural awakening.
“It truly has been a formative experience. I come from a small town and on some days, it feels like the world has been brought into my backyard. I don’t think I’d ever even met or had a conversation with a person from Nigeria or India or China before university. It has been a major cultural awakening for me. I’ve learned a lot and I’ve made many friends from diverse backgrounds. UNB is very multicultural.”
Matthew is deeply involved in student life and campus activities. He founded and presided over the UNB Saint John debate club, worked in a number of capacities for the Students’ Representative Council and volunteered as a learning coordinator for the Promise Partnership.
Matthew says that, for him, volunteering at school and in the community is emotional therapy.
“People often complain that society is getting worse. There are more people who are poor, there is more crime, more people on the streets, there is more war, more corruption – whatever the political issue of the day is, people complain about it relentlessly and act like the world is always getting worse. But I find when you are with other people who are actively trying to make change in the same way you are, it gives you a lot of hope. So in a way, it’s like therapy for me.”
Matthew hopes to continue his studies next year at the UNB faculty of law in Fredericton, and eventually make his mark on the world as a private practice barrister and solicitor.
