Former student Dr. Heather Cowie inducted into Lindsay Thurber Hall of Fame

“When I was a student at Thurber, I loved my time here. When I was in Grade 12, I made a mistake – I believed that I had to wait to figure my life out to make a difference, and I couldn’t have been more wrong,” she said. “I had one of my teachers who stood at the front of the class and said, ‘Doing nothing is a choice.’ That has resonated over and over in my life, particularly in the area of poverty.”

Once graduated, Dr. Cowie studied biological sciences at the University of Victoria and the University of Calgary.

However, it was during a year of volunteering across Central America that she discovered she wanted to pursue a career in optometry.

While teaching in a converted pigsty in Guatemala, she worked alongside a visiting eye care team and witnessed a blind man see again after receiving donated glasses.

Heather went on to earn her doctor of optometry from the University of Waterloo, where she founded the University’s Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity chapter.

She then participated in and led eye care missions to Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua and Guatemala.

She later earned a master of public health from Johns Hopkins University, specializing in international health.

She now owns Airdrie Family Eye Doctors and founded CVC Guatemala under the umbrella of Canadian Vision Care, supporting initiatives that improve access to eye care and strengthen communities.

During her address, she challenged Lindsay Thurber students to use their talents and resources to be difference makers in the community and beyond, encouraging them to give more of their time, money and abilities to help those with less.

“Pick things that light you on fire and that matter to you,” she added. “If you find like-minded people who have different skills than you, you will change the world. Because doing nothing is a choice.”

by rdnewsNOW staff

Former student Dr. Heather Cowie inducted into Lindsay Thurber Hall of Fame

What's Trending