2025 Governor General’s Academic Medal Recipients

ALEXANDRA JERRARD-MACFADYEN

Governor-General’s Academic Gold Medal

Alexandra Jerrard-MacFadyen was honoured with the Governor-General’s Academic Gold Medal. Alexandra is a graduate of the Master of Education in Educational Leadership program.

Alexandra completed a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education (After Degree) at Concordia University of Edmonton in the late 1990s. During her teaching career, she noticed a concerning shift in students’ mental health and overall well-being. This motivated her to return to CUE to pursue a Master of Education to empower her to make an even greater difference.

“At CUE I was challenged academically while also consistently encouraged by my
professors and classmates,” she says. “Professors at CUE are grounded in an ethic of care and exemplify the kind of educator I aspire to be.”

Alexandra sees multiple paths ahead in her journey of supporting positive learning environments locally and beyond, and she is excited about the possibilities, whether it will be taking on a school administrator role or conducting research aimed at improving the mental health of students and educators.

Alexandra’s message to current and futures students is to not fear vulnerability. “Life lessons contain threads of wisdom that can be woven into a beautiful tapestry of knowledge,” she says.

ALLISON MARTENS

Governor-General’s Academic Silver Medal

Allison Martens was honoured with the Governor-General’s Academic Silver Medal. Allison has completed a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Education.

Allison was drawn to the fields of psychology and education out of a desire to help others. While in high school, she received many recommendations from others to enroll at Concordia University of Edmonton. She found the small class sizes appealing.

“The idea that I could be more than a number to my professors is what I valued most while looking into post-secondary options,” she says.

“It is one thing to learn about the theory that relationships are essential to the classroom; to experience it firsthand is something else.”

Allison has been accepted into the Bachelor of Education (After Degree) program at CUE and plans to become an elementary school teacher. Her goal is to provide children with a supportive space where they can safely make mistakes as they learn and grow.

Her advice to her peers is that attending university is not simply about achieving a goal, it is also about enjoying the journey. She says, “The classes were fantastic, the professors were great, but the biggest highlight was the friends I made along the way.”