First-year Dawson Social Science student Abigaëlle Vasseur is one of seven CEGEP students in Quebec to win a bursary for research work this winter semester. Abigaëlle joined Dawson’s Adaptech Research Network and it was through this work that she won a Bourse pour stage d’initiation à la recherche pour la relève au collegial, valued at $3,000, from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture.

“I am lucky to have found a place on the Adaptech team and at Dawson that allows me to fully follow my interests,” Abigaëlle said in an interview with Dawson’s Communications Office. “I feel very honoured to win this scholarship, and I hope that I can truly do my best and make people think that this scholarship was well deserved. This bursary will allow me to help Rosie Arcuri on her project about chrome extensions.”

Getting involved with Adaptech

Abigaëlle got involved with Adaptech by asking teachers if she could join a lab and was referred to Catherine Fichten, who co-directs Adaptech and is a faculty member in Psychology at Dawson. The Adaptech Research Network is a team of academics, students and consumers established in 1996. Based at Dawson College, they conduct research involving college and university students with a variety of disabilities in Canada.

“There are so many interesting things I could list about being able to have the experience of working in a lab,” Abigaëlle said. “I think the most important thing is how there are truly people working behind the scenes to provide people who don’t fully understand ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) more knowledge that is factual and based on real students.”

Future plans

Abigaëlle is in the Psychology Profile of Social Science and would like to continue studying psychology at university with the goal of specializing in cognitive developmental psychology. She is also interested in education. “I would love to be a psychologist and help kids who are like me as a child, lost and in need of help,” she said.

“I choose to study psychology because I believe that there are not enough psychologists and social workers who are on the side of children who need to be taken care of and listened to,” she continued. “I remember when I was a child in need of assistance and I felt that no one truly listened to me, which led to me being ashamed of my problems and feeling like I should overcompensate. I, however, was extremely lucky to have parents who always wanted to help me, especially in regards to my ADHD. Not everyone has someone like that in their life.”

What she likes about Dawson

Abigaëlle appreciates her courses at Dawson, which “help broaden my view point about the world and mold me into a better person, little by little. I love the fact that Dawson allows me to receive my education in English and gives me different opportunities to explore different subject matters.”