Interview with St. Mildred's-Lightbourn School Alum, Taegen Poles
- Name
Taegen Poles - Grades (year)
Gr. 1 - Gr. 10 - University (major)
Queen's University (Mechanical & Materials Engineering) - Gender
Female - Enrolment
Day student - Job/Career
PhD Student
Taegen Poles, an alumna of St. Mildred's-Lightbourn School, talks about the diverse opportunities the school offers and how its supportive environment empowers young women to grow. Poles credits the school for fostering strong, enduring connections and building foundational skills like public speaking and confidence.
Highlights from the interview
I believe the school is very much focused on setting women up for success from a young age, and they want to have women grow into people with purpose who are able to go out and change the world. Everyone who is there and working there and going to school there, we were all on the same path, and we were all on the same journey to just letting women become who they were in a way that was fostering self-confidence and courage.
If the school were a person, I’d say it’s empathetic, encouraging, and reliable. It understands that everyone's a person with their own needs, has your back when you need it, and is someone who is just cheering you on to chase your dreams.
If you are interested in any type of extracurricular activities, whether that's athletics, arts, or STEM-based, there are opportunities for you to do them. And your teachers are super encouraging, your peers are really encouraging, and the environment all around is very empowering for you to do what you want to do.
There’s a sense of family that connects the students here. It's a smaller school, so you get to really know your peers.
You wouldn't expect a small school to have so many opportunities, but it really is a sky's the limit place. I was very involved in the school's robotics programs, but the school was very encouraging when I wanted to participate in the athletics and arts departments. There were global initiatives and even co-op opportunities as early as Grade 10.
I'm a person who is confident. Self-confidence, especially from a young age, came from being in an environment where you had people around you encouraging you all the time to make mistakes, but to do it in a safe environment. There are also lots of opportunities for girls from a young age to start public speaking. I remember starting grade four, we were doing public speaking, and I was talking about the Bermuda Triangle in front of my classmates. So now, I have the foundations to be articulate in what I want to say. So, I can say that going to St. Mildred's has made me who I am in basically every sense of the word.
The things that I learned at St. Mildred's were fantastic, but they didn't necessarily prepare me for interacting with boys at an all-girls school. So for me, that was a bit of a challenge.
To parents choosing a school, I’d say: going to St. Mildred’s will build your daughter's self-confidence. It will make them well-rounded individuals, and it will give them opportunities for connections well after they've graduated. It's maybe not necessarily conventional to send your daughter to an all-girls school, especially if you're looking at a young age. But I really recommend considering how it will help set her up for success in the future.
To new students, I’d say, be willing to trust the process. Be willing to make mistakes because now is the best time to learn how to fail. Learn how to fail, fail harder, faster, and then you'll get where you want to go way, way quicker.
