Northern Lights recipient – Ashleigh Freisen Wolfe

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Location: Grande Prairie/Edmonton, Alberta

While studying medicine full time, Ashleigh Freisen Wolfe has already taken community wellness to a whole new level. As a pre-med student at Grande Prairie Regional College (GPRC) and now studying immunology at the University of Alberta, Ashleigh has continued to find time to support some of the most vulnerable in her community as an Alberta Health Services volunteer. Between semesters, Ashleigh has spent long shifts sharing quality time with long-term care patients, feeding and comforting fragile newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit, and taking advantage of the opportunity to job-shadow doctors to further enhance her learning.

In addition, Ashleigh drew on traditional ecological knowledge from her Indigenous heritage to help establish the Grande Prairie Regional College Eco Club. Her desire to make a positive impact in reducing the environmental footprint on campus was a factor in her participation in a research project to reduce contamination on oil sites using bioremediation – an effort that was recognized with the GPRC Research Award.

Ashleigh can also be found online, using social media to promote equality. She has also hosted free online yoga classes during the pandemic, and shares positivity through messages and poems to vulnerable Albertans struggling with the strain of “coping with the new normal”. Those uplifting messages have found a new audience as Ashleigh has taken on yet another volunteer role as a driver with Meals on Wheels and continues to pen positive messages for her clients. Though Ashleigh still has a lot of studying ahead to realize her dream as a medical professional, she already has the cure for what ails our communities – compassion.