Caronport High School student Devon Wilson has her eyes set on veterinary school. Now that she’s been handed over $30,000 in scholarships to study Animal Science at the University of Saskatchewan, she’s well on her way—and she’s crediting it in part to her teachers at CHS.

Wilson has wanted to be a vet since she was a little girl, but the cost of veterinary school made it a lofty goal. “I knew…I needed to get scholarships,” says Wilson. She’s met that goal a few times over. So far, she’s been awarded the Chancellor’s Scholarship ($20,000), the College of Agriculture and Bioresources Entrance Scholarship ($10,000), and the Sidney Green scholarship ($800). The criteria include academic excellence and significant involvement in extra-curricular activities—in other words, they suit Wilson to a tee.

Wilson has astounded teachers and coaches with her ability to excel in everything she does. She has consistently earned grades significantly above the 90% mark, even in subjects she struggles with, like English. “If it doesn’t come easy, I work twice as hard. That’s my motto,” says Wilson.

Her work ethic has shown itself in more than just her schoolwork. Wilson grew up going to a small school in a small town, and one of the reasons she came to CHS was to take advantage of the opportunity to play competitive team sports. She’s played basketball, badminton, and volleyball, and she captained her volleyball team in grades 10 and 12 and her basketball team in grade 12.

Some students would struggle as they tried to excel in both sports and schoolwork, but Wilson found it refreshing. “It was a good way to take my mind off school and make high school enjoyable,” she says. Sports have also and brought out her leadership skills and helped her develop as a person, which her coaches would testify to. “Devon is an outstanding young woman who is exceptionally gifted, but whose character is even more impressive than her gifts,” says Wes Olmstead, who coached her volleyball team this year.

No one at CHS would deny that Wilson is out of the ordinary, but perhaps the truly remarkable thing is that she attributes her success to others, namely her teachers at CHS. “I never would have had an opportunity to get [these scholarships] if I hadn’t come to CHS,” she says. “Because I’ve had to work harder in some subjects, I’ve had to go for help….The teachers here have just been phenomenal. Every time I’ve gone to any one of them, they’ve always been more than willing to help me.”

Wilson says that she probably would have just “drifted with the average” if she’d stayed at the school she began at. One can never know—but according to Principal Deborah Ike, after having known and worked with Wilson over the last four years, “It’s hard to imagine Devon doing that.” Perhaps Wilson made almost as deep an impression on the CHS staff as they did on her.

Wilson will begin a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture and Animal Science at the University of Saskatchewan this fall. She plans to pursue veterinary school near the end of her undergraduate studies.