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Lee-Anne Thompson

McGowan Leadership Scholarship Award

Lee-Anne Thompson

2016 McGowan Leadership Scholarship Recipient

Interested to learn what our scholarship recipients have been up to?

We caught up with scholarship recipient, Lee-Anne Thompson, for a brief email interview. Keep reading for an update on Lee-Anne’s life, her advice for this year’s applicants, and much more!


Lee-Anne Thompson

What are you currently doing? 

Right now, I’m in the middle of a 10 month long post degree Bachelor of Social Work program at the University of Waterloo. I have classes two days a week, and the other three days I have a placement at an agency working with individuals and families with developmental disabilities – Extend-A-Family Waterloo Region (eafwr.on.ca). I was also recently accepted for my masters of social work at the University of Toronto, which I’m very excited about!

Share with us how leadership plays a role in your life today.

Social work is all about leadership skills! Empowering people to live better lives by building social and community connections. At my placement, I’m currently the chair of a committee putting together financial literacy resource material specifically designed in an easy to understand format for people with developmental disabilities (unfortunately, there’s very little out there right now). I’m also helping with our Family Home recruitment team looking to find people who are willing to open up their home to share their life with an adult with a disability.

Do you have any advice for future applicants?

Get involved with your community! Whether it’s your local community or a community that shares the same passions and interests as you. When you find ways to work alongside the people around, the opportunities to make change and to make a positive difference in the world become endless! For me, it was my church, the low vision clinic at my university’s optometry school, and of course NOAH!

Thanks so much for catching up with us, Lee-Anne!


Feeling inspired by Lee-Anne? We sure are!

You could be recognized for your leadership too – all you have to do is apply for the next Michael J. McGowan Leadership Scholarship Award! For more information on current application requirements and deadlines visit www.albinism.org/leadership.