TRURO - Rebecca MacNevin got much more than she bargained for during her recent graduation ceremony at Mount Saint Vincent University.
The 26-year-old Truro native expected to simply graduate with a Masters degree in school psychology. The Graduate Thesis Award she received to boot was like a bombshell.
"It was a big surprise," said MacNevin, who is now working as a psychology intern for the Eastern School District in Charlottetown. "I had no idea I was even nominated. But it feels great to be recognized for something like that."
MacNevin received the award - presented to a graduate whose thesis is of high
quality, includes well-developed, independent research and makes a contribution to their academic discipline - for her thesis on teachers' perceptions of children who are challenged in the classroom by recurrent or chronic pain. MacNevin based her research around children who suffer from chronic headaches. She said she decided to write her paper on the subject because there wasn't much information about it.
"I think it was an area people hadn't really looked into, so I thought we should look into it more," MacNevin said.
MacNevin had worked on her thesis for the past two years, since she started the program in September 2009. She collected much of her information through the responses of 106 teachers across the province to her online survey.
"They could do it on their own time so I think that's why I was able to get so many," she said.
She also consulted with her supervisors, Dr. Sara King, an MSVU faculty member and a registered child psychologist, and Dr. Christine Chambers, of the IWK's centre for pediatric pain research.
What she found was teachers were more apt to reduce a student's workload or alter deadlines for assignments when presented with a letter from a medical professional.
MacNevin's thesis has inspired another student at the university to delve deeper into the subject with their Masters thesis.
"It was definitely a challenge to write," MacNevin said with a laugh. "But it's nice to be recognized for all the hard work."
Truro's Jennifer Berghuis was also rewarded for her hard work at the convocation, walking away with the President's Prize along with her Master of Education degree in Literacy Education.
