Where the Rivers Meet the Sea: Leigh Tipper’s Journey Through Academia
BEEDIE LUMINARIES — Meet Leigh Tipper, a Beedie Luminary from the 2024 Cohort of the SPARK Program and now also a recipient of the Graduate Studies Award.
In 2025, Leigh completed her undergraduate degree in History at Vancouver Island University. Currently, she is in the process of obtaining her Masters in History with a focus on gender studies and the Middle Ages, while also writing a book about her own story of resilience.
Being a single parent has always come with its challenges for Leigh. As the sole provider of her family she was forced to move around, change jobs, and it took a long time for her to find peace. When the COVID pandemic hit she lost her job after finally finding stable housing. Determined to build a better future and move out of struggle Leigh decided to go to university. She took out a student loan that would help support that dream and allow her to focus on her studies and be home more with her children. Leigh saw the loan as an investment in her future self and was hopeful of the opportunities for scholarships as well.
The SPARK scholarship has allowed for her to breathe more freely, connect with other parents, and have another team behind her. However, being a student, of course, has not been easy. The following article discusses her journey and experience on the road to being a successful student as a parent. Leigh believes that these lessons apply to all of us that choose growth over comfort and are willing to put in the work in the course of academia.
LEIGH TIPPER – I grew up as an athlete.
We were a busy household, my siblings and I all played sports at a high level. I played basketball in the BC Summer Games, and was invited to try out for multiple universities. My sister played for the Junior Team Canada softball team, and my brother played hockey in the WHL.
Through the crazy schedules, driving from practice to games to tournament road trips for all three of us, the one thing I remember most is the constant presence of my mom.
She consistently put us first and while doing so taught us a lot about strength and resiliency that carried over to us not only achieving our sports goals, but helped us with our mindset in life too.I didn’t always know what I wanted to do with my life, but one thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to be a mother. I never did end up going to university for basketball. I thought I had fallen out of love with it, but now, looking back, I was overwhelmed with decisions, I was scared to make the wrong choice, and I was worried that I wasn’t smart enough for the world of academia.
As someone who was diagnosed late in life with adhd, I know now that part of the reason I struggled academically was that I was in an environment that didn’t support my needs, even if at the time we didn’t quite know what those needs were. Basketball provided a space for me to hyper focus on something I loved, as did art. However, I wasn’t sure that university was the place for me, and because of this, combined with a few other young life decisions, I never got a full education
Joyfully, I became a mother at 25, and I had my second baby at 28. I had the privilege to be with my children as I always dreamed; first in marriage as a stay at home mom, and then as a single parent who worked from home. I have always tried to put my children first.
Like most parents, their needs often rest above my own. I was nervous when I made the choice to go back to school, especially being the only parent in their life. I spent days looking over program options and courses, trying to figure out what it was that I even wanted at that stage of my life. I found myself asking, what are my interests after raising children?!
I considered a two year EEC program as well as business administration, but as I sat with these options I felt nothing in my body. No joy, no excitement, no spark. This is by no means a judgement of these professions, they’re admirable and important positions. For me though, I had this strong sense that if I didn’t choose something I was absolutely going to enjoy I wasn’t going to succeed.
This realization wasn’t just because I had learned that my brain had worked better when it was stimulated. I knew deep down that if I didn’t choose something I loved I would never choose it above my children on the days when school needed to be the priority. In this way, I knew that my fuel would be my passion. So, after much debate, and taking a couple different classes, I choose to pursue a degree in History. I didn’t see my student loan as borrowing money. I saw it as paying myself for a future I was going to count on.
Often, when I tell people that I have a degree in history their initial reaction is one of two things, either they say “WOW, that’s so cool,” or “What are you going to do with that?!”
The answers that run through my head are things like “I’ll be happy… engaged… in love with what I do…find every opportunity I can to explore.”
Nothing in life is a guarantee, and maybe this sounds a bit delusional, but after struggling a lot in my life my priorities are different than many. I know that you can plan for the life you think you are going to have and it takes a turn. Perhaps this is the gift of resiliency: you know that you have already overcome something extremely hard and so you have the proof that you are capable.
I think that is one of the reasons Beedie Luminaries sees something special in people that have already demonstrated this type of strength, they have what it takes to believe in themselves, and follow through. The thing is though, the “getting back up” never stops.
In my career as a student, there has been even more to fight through beyond my initial story and becoming a Lumanary; my own mental health struggles, my daughter being in the hospital, multiple deaths in the family, putting our beloved kitty down, it doesn’t seem to stop sometimes. Through all this, if my studies weren’t something I fully enjoyed returning to day after day, I wouldn’t be successful. Essentially, I needed to have space to “geek out” over my interests, something else I could love so much that I wouldn’t walk away from. For me this has been learning about history, cuddling up with old norse mythology, images of medieval art, chronicles of England during the Viking age, and learning about the lives of women throughout this period.
After leaving my husband, who had become an addict, I realized I had become strong and resourceful. One thing I learned is that you give yourself space to fall apart, cry, feel, and perhaps ask for support, but then you look around and ask “What else is possible?”
“Perhaps this is the gift of resiliency: you know that you have already overcome something extremely hard and so you have the proof that you are capable.”
For me the journey of academia has been no different. Going back to school as a mature student I felt the pressure of time, I had none to waste. However, I learned to trust my own pace, not only of my work but of my life entirely. Suddenly, instead of forcing things to work, doors started opening.
University is alive with possibilities. It has provided my family of three with such rich experiences, as well as moments where the kids get to be proud of me too. In my second year of my undergrad I won a Global Opportunities Scholarship to study abroad. We travelled through Norway and Western Europe, something that would not have been possible before. I see everything as an opportunity, and I stay curious when moments get hard. Where is this pushing me? What is there for me on the other side of this experience?
Of course, there are times when I feel afraid, I am hard on myself, and worry if I am getting it all right, I think we all do. That’s why it is also important to surround yourself with the people who empower you and believe in you. When people tell me that something can’t be done, or that my goals seem too hard, or too much, not only am I driven to prove them wrong, I know they just aren’t my people.
Sometimes people project their own experience onto yours and academia has a tendency to lay out before their students the road necessary to reach certain goals. However, there is room to create your own path. No two people are alike, no two paths need be either.
There is a Led Zeppelin song that says, “though the course may change sometimes, rivers always reach the sea.” For me, the course has many twists and turns, many possible directions all running towards the same sea that is my future and my passion is the current, the force that is moving me and guiding me there.
Come September, I am heading into my second year of my Masters in History.
Not only have these decisions opened my eyes to what I wanted to spend my time doing, it showed me that I could trust myself again. More than anything, I have shown myself and my children what is possible at any point in your life. I won’t pretend to know which way I am heading. Every new experience, people I meet, professors that inspire me, my children, and moments in life impact the direction I take. Already, I can see new interests forming in different topics within history. Recently, I have expanded upon my study of female rulers to encompass our ideas of gender, and how our ways of research have evolved over time. I remain open and curious about what is next, and when I worry about the unknown, I try to look forward to being surprised by where my passions lead.
In closing, if I could offer one piece of advice to any student, parent or not, it would be to trust the things that light you up. So much along the academic path has the potential at times to weigh you down, but if you can keep returning to the way you feel when you’re invested in something you love that will outweigh all. Remember, you get a degree after this! Trust yourself unequivocally in the process and you’ll be rewarded for your courage and commitment.
Thank you, Leigh. Until next time!
