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"I never really intended to be a leader," says the recent Dal grad from Cow Bay, a small community on Nova Scotia's eastern shore. "But through my passion for the initiatives and organizations I'm part of, my leadership has emerged very organically."

Michelle, who graduated from Dal last spring with a combined honours in Social Anthropology�����Ի���International Development Studies (IDS), says she's looking forward to developing as a scholar at McGill and immersing herself in a research project related to migration and diaspora communities.

It's a topic that's been close to her heart for years. At �鶹��ý, Michelle was heavily involved in ’s student refugee program and co-led the sponsorship of four refugee youth — the first such groups to come to Dal following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I am really passionate about education and making that a reality for people." 

Michelle served as co-chair of WUSC’s local Dal-King’s committee. “I'm proud that I was able to help build the committee from a few people to over 20 members and ensure the students got comprehensive peer-to-peer support," she says.

When Michelle spent a semester abroad in Singapore during her third year, she developed a new appreciation for her own background as a second-generation Chinese Canadian.

"Coming from a small community where there wasn't a lot of diversity and then going to Singapore and being surrounded by Asian people definitely changed how I see myself and how I see the dynamics surrounding migration and race," she says.

Michelle says the experience abroad — in combination with certain Dal courses — sparked her inner activist and motivated her to get involved in the Asian diaspora community.

"My idea of what community started to open up a little bit more, and I started to realize that it's not just your local community that's important. It can be a global community."

"Brilliant" and a "deep thinker"

Dal IDS Professor Dr. Kate Swanson, who taught Michelle in two courses at Dal, describes her former pupil as “brilliant.”

“She is a deep and careful thinker who demonstrates genuine curiosity about the world,” says Dr. Swanson, who recently invited Michelle to contribute to a co-edited book she’s working on for McGill-Queens University Press. “She is a remarkable writer. Her work weaves together theory and empirics in a sophisticated way.”

Dr. Swanson also describes Michelle someone who cares deeply about community well-being, noting her work with WUSC, her role as an exec with Dal’s Sociology & Social Anthropology Society, her writing for campus newspapers, and her volunteer work at the .����

“While the world is admittedly difficult right now, Michelle chooses to remain hopeful as she actively works to make the world a better place,” she says.

While the world is admittedly difficult right now, Michelle chooses to remain hopeful

Following graduation, Michelle joined  — an international non-profit organization dedicated to empowering and unifying Asian youth through intersectional activism. She has served as a writer and social media manager with the group.��

She has also stayed engaged in research at Dal, continuing her work as a research assistant for Sociology professor Dr. Jonathan Amoyaw on a project about food insecurity among international students in Halifax. Separately, she’s worked with Dr. Michael Halpin on an investigative analysis of Reddit threads on Asian masculinity.

Lifting people up

As she heads into a new phase of life in Montreal, Michelle says she carries with her a lot of lessons from her time at Dal — one, in particular, from Dr. Swanson, who she calls an important mentor.��

"I think maybe the main take away that I've learned from her is the importance of hope as a verb and hope as something you earn through action," says Michelle. "We talk about a lot of really heavy, depressing issues and keeping the idea that you can maintain hope through action and through involving yourself in your community and through initiatives that lift people up through kind of principles of mutual aid and collective care has been really helpful in encouraging me to keep being involved."

This year, the McCall MacBain Scholarships at McGill also offered 95 entrance awards ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 each to top candidates not selected for the cohort. From �鶹��ý, Sarah Rondeaux (BSc’25), Laura Colford (BHP’25), and Ernest Ng (BSc’23) earned entrance awards for their upcoming studies.