Meet Our Grads: Sarah McKinnon, BIB/18

On June 14, we will celebrate the class of 2018 as our newest graduates cross the Carleton University Convocation stage to receive their degrees. To mark this very special occasion, we have asked some of our grads to reflect on their time in the Sprott School of Business.

Sarah McKinnon against the Sprott backdrop — Sarah McKinnon is a 2018 graduate from the Bachelor of International Business program and the recipient of a Senate Medal for academic acheivement .

If you could choose one word to sum up your time at Sprott, what is it and why?

Adventure. I was born and raised on a farm in rural Alberta, so moving to Ottawa for school; travelling through Europe; and all of the opportunities offered through Sprott were together part of a chaotic but fun chapter in my life.

What were your goals when you started at Sprott? Did you achieve them?

Thinking back to my early first-year self, a few of my goals were:

To join the Sprott Student Investment Fund (SSIF);
To go to Chile for my exchange;
To become fluent in Spanish; and
To be an involved student within the Sprott community

While I eventually changed my mind and chose Madrid, Spain for my exchange, and my Spanish may not be 100% perfect, I am happy to say that I did achieve my other two goals. I was accepted to join SSIF in January of my first year (2015), and during my second and fourth years I had the opportunity to work with two different Sprott concentration associations in event planning and financial planning roles.

What is your favourite Sprott memory?

While it is difficult to pick a single memory, one of my favourites is competing in and winning the Van Berkom Small Cap Case Competition with Cason Bravener, Chiara Palumbo, and Parker Olineck.

What was your favourite course or professor?

Among the courses I took within Sprott, Ethics and Cross-Cultural Integration with Richard Clayman stands out in my mind as one of the most interesting and impactful. An honourable mention should also be said for Professor Carlos Valdéz, who taught four of the five Spanish courses I took at Carleton.

What was the most important lesson you learned during your time at Sprott?

The importance of connections – whether that be connecting topics and themes to an overarching business strategy; drawing connections between facts and situations to develop a new understanding; and forging one’s own connections within their network of friends, peers, professors, and mentors.

What will you miss the most?

Of everything at Sprott I am really going to miss how close-knit we all were in the BIB program and being in such frequent contact with the close friends I developed among my peers.

What’s next for you?

I will be starting work as a financial analyst for Sampford Advisors here in Ottawa beginning in June!

Is there anything else you would like to share with the Sprott community?

I am truly grateful for the opportunities that were made available to me through Sprott and the amazing faculty, administration, students, and friends I was able to meet during my time here.

Sarah posing with her 3 other teammates in front of a staircase — Winning the Van Berkom Small Cap Case Competition! (From left to right: Cason Bravener, Parker Olineck, Sarah McKinnon, Chiara Palumbo.)

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