“It could have been grizzlies or grasshoppers,” he says. “I used pintails as my study specimen to test my hypothesis.”
Like Solinski, Kowalchuk put in those seven-day weeks. His work involved considerable research: he used some 30 researchers, many of them students in Environmental Science.
“Their participation allowed them to progress and continue their careers, something of which I’m most proud,” says Kowalchuk.
The college, too, was there when Kowalchuk needed its support, dealing with grants accounting and even welding materials he required in the field.
“Lethbridge College sees the value in investing in these endeavours, and understands that we make sacrifices to get there,” he says. Kowalchuk has file folders full of data, hundreds of thousands of Excel spreadsheet cells with information from every duck nest he studied. Each one had to be analyzed and double checked for accuracy.
“That takes away from your family,” he says. “I’d say to anyone thinking of pursuing a doctorate to be sure they can make that kind of commitment.”
Kowalchuk has yet to defend his thesis, something he’ll do soon. When he does, a shotgun of experts will be firing some stiff questions at him.
“You have to have a thick skin,” he says. “That’s science and it has to be critiqued and examined, in some cases by world experts. This is the major leagues and you have to develop a sense this isn’t personal. That’s helped me understand my position at Lethbridge College; evaluations are done of my work, not of me personally.”
Solinski joined the battle to rejuvenate his teaching.
“I was getting mouldy,” he says. “I needed to sharpen the pencil. It hasn’t really sunk in yet that I’m finished. I had a feeling on New Year’s Eve that I could now focus on myself for a change. Still, it was an incredible growth experience and I am very grateful to Lethbridge College to have had the opportunity.”
So, while Solinski contemplates cracking a cold one by the cabin door and the Kowalchuks visit travel agents, students at Lethbridge College will be learning from two more PhDs. One day, they, too, might follow the same track to the Machu Picchu of education. The trail is rocky and steep, but the view at the end is well worth the struggle.
