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After earning two Red Seal certifications and building a successful career in the skilled trades, Kelsey McKenzie returned to UNB to finish a degree she started 22 years ago, challenging the idea that education, intelligence, and success follow only one path.

University of New Brunswick graduand Kelsey McKenzie has never been one to follow a conventional path, and after more than two decades of taking the scenic route, she wouldn't have it any other way.

A Red Seal hairstylist and welder, and welding instructor at New Brunswick Community College (NBCC), McKenzie has built a career doing what she loves while challenging expectations about women in the skilled trades.

This fall, she'll add another accomplishment to that list: a Bachelor of Integrated Studies with a minor in Adult Education from UNB.

For McKenzie, earning a university degree isn't about finally becoming successful. It's about finishing something she started 22 years ago, and recognizing her accomplishments along the way.

"I think sometimes people look at a university degree as the ultimate measure of education or success," she said. "But I've spent the last 22 years learning, working, earning two Red Seals, and building a career that I'm incredibly proud of. I wasn't sitting around waiting to become educated."

Originally from Miramichi, McKenzie spent part of her childhood in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, before returning to New Brunswick with her family.

Growing up in a single-mother household, McKenzie understood early on that pursuing higher education wasn't always as simple as deciding to go.

"The money just wasn't there to go to university right away. But I always wanted to be a teacher. It was something I'd dreamed about since I was a child."

Determined to give it a try, she attended one of UNB's Admission on the Spot events, where prospective students could interview and receive an admissions decision that day.

"I got accepted on the spot, completed a French immersion placement test, and started working toward a Bachelor of Arts."

But financial pressures and health challenges eventually forced her to make a difficult decision.

"My doctor gave me an ultimatum and said I could either work or go to school. I had to pick one, so I chose working."

What initially felt like putting her education on hold would ultimately lead McKenzie toward two very different trades, an unexpected teaching career, and a new understanding of what education could look like.

After leaving university, McKenzie enrolled at the Atlantic Hairstyling Academy in Fredericton, earning her first Red Seal certification as a hairstylist. But another trade had been in the back of her mind since childhood.

Fascinated by her father’s work as a welder, she decided to pursue welding herself, however, he wasn't immediately enthusiastic.

"At first, he was worried about how I would be received. Today, there's a strong movement supporting women in the trades, and I'm so glad it's here. But when I started, I didn't have that."

Entering a traditionally male-dominated industry without female mentors or an established support network wasn't always easy, but McKenzie wasn't about to let that stop her.

She enrolled in a pre-employment welding program at Eastern College in Saint John, graduated as valedictorian, and received the program's top welder award. She went on to earn her second Red Seal certification and work in the welding industry across New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Alberta.

Eventually, she returned to New Brunswick to care for her mother, who had become ill.

In an unexpected turn of events, the career she'd dreamed about as a little girl found its way back to her.

While making a phone call about welding certifications, McKenzie learned that Eastern College needed an instructor. "The campus director asked if I could start on Monday," she recalled. "I've been teaching ever since."

McKenzie has spent more than a decade teaching welding, including eight years at NBCC in Saint John, where she helps prepare the next generation of skilled tradespeople.

It is a role that combines years of hands-on experience and her lifelong passion for education. Although her route into teaching was anything but traditional, she believes her industry experience is one of the most valuable things she brings into the classroom.

After a 16-year break, she returned to UNB in 2020, initially intending to complete her Bachelor of Education.

However, her advisor encouraged her to explore UNB's Bachelor of Integrated Studies program, which recognizes prior learning and professional experience, including eligible trade qualifications.

"She said, 'You're very intelligent. You can do whatever you want to do. But have you ever heard of the Bachelor of Integrated Studies?'"

For McKenzie, the program represented something much bigger; It acknowledged that meaningful education and professional expertise can be gained outside a traditional academic setting.

"What I appreciated most was that the program acknowledged the life I'd already lived and the work I'd already done," she said. "You're starting your university journey, but you're also recognized for everything you've contributed up to that point."

Balancing university coursework with full-time teaching and family caregiving responsibilities wasn't easy, all while navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Taking one course at a time, often online, allowed her to keep moving forward. While some semesters were more challenging than others, and progress wasn't always as fast, she was determined to see it through.

One of the most important lessons of her journey has been recognizing that academic education and skilled trades education are not competing paths, but complimenting ones.

"I want to sit at the same table as people with university degrees but show up in my coveralls and still contribute to the conversation, because intelligence shouldn't come with a dress code," she said.

It's a message she hopes resonates not only with university graduates, but with tradespeople.

"I've been in university classrooms, and I've been in welding shops, and I can tell you there are brilliant people in both," she said.

Now, with two Red Seals and a university degree to her name, she has a unique perspective on both worlds.

"I don't want people to look at my story and think, 'Look, she went from the trades to university,' as though I've somehow moved up in the world," she said. "I didn't move up. I moved forward. There's a difference."

After graduation, McKenzie hopes to pursue a Master of Education with a concentration in Adult Education at UNB, continuing to build on her experience as an instructor and her passion for making education more accessible to skilled trades professionals.

Her message to her own students is equally important: choosing a trade doesn't mean closing the door on further education.

"I want my students to understand that going into the trades isn't settling for something less," she said. "It's a legitimate, challenging, and incredibly rewarding career path. If they decide down the road that they want to pursue university, those opportunities should be there for them, too."

As McKenzie prepares to receive her degree, she reflects on the many different versions of herself who contributed to this achievement.

The young woman who first enrolled at UNB in 2004. The hairstylist who earned her first Red Seal. The welder who entered a male-dominated industry and built a career. The instructor who discovered that her childhood dream of teaching had come true, just not in the way she originally imagined.

And now, the university graduate.

"It's not always a linear path. Life is messy. Sometimes you have to put things on the back burner. But if it's important to you, you can come back to it," she said.

"I'm incredibly proud to have earned my university degree, and I'm grateful to UNB for recognizing the value of everything I've learned along the way. I may have taken the long way around, but I wouldn't change a thing."