Arts Gold Medal Award recipient reflects on her graduate student journey

The Faculty of Arts celebrated the graduating Class of 2026 during fall convocation on October 16. As part of the ceremony, Master of Public Policy and Administration (MPPA) graduate Michelle Jadormeo, was recognized as a double award recipient – receiving the TMU Gold Medal for the Faculty of Arts and the Board of Governors Student Leadership Award. 

Both awards recognize outstanding academic achievements and contributions to the life of the university, professional community and/or community at large. The latter award — one of the university’s most prestigious — distinguishes one individual from among all gold medalists for outstanding leadership and participation in co-curricular and extracurricular activities.

Throughout her time at TMU, Jadormeo took advantage of as many opportunities as she could to enhance her knowledge, skills and experience. As a Bruce Fellow in Canadian Freshwater Policy, she conducted research focused on AI-driven data centres and their demands on Ontario’s water resources. During her fellowship, she helped lead a national e-petition calling for the official recognition and establishment of Canada Water Week, transforming this policy idea into a national public engagement campaign. She is also the founder and lead organizer of Beyond Tomorrow Impact, a youth-led conference initiative giving young people direct access to international leaders in government, innovation and advocacy. 

In addition to her involvement on campus, Jadormeo found ways to give back to the broader community, including responding to emergencies with the Canadian Red Cross, providing end-of-life companionship to people experiencing homelessness at Journey Home Hospice, and mentoring fellow students from equity-derserving groups.

Jadormeo simultaneously excelled academically. She was selected among 100 graduate participants worldwide through the St.Gallen Symposium’s Global Essay Competition and has received other honours, including the Toronto Met Graduate Fellowship, the St. George’s Society of Toronto / Bill Davis Graduate Awards, and MPPA recognition for attaining one of the program’s highest GPAs in an academic year. 

While she accomplished many things during her program, Jadormeo’s road to graduation was not straightforward, nor easy. Jadormeo reflects on her student journey and what her future holds:

1. What drew you to the MPPA program at TMU? What was the decision-making process like when you accepted the offer? 

After studying political science in my undergraduate degree, I wanted to understand how to move an idea through the levels of government, including how to develop a policy, make a case for funding, and see it through to implementation. I was interested in the responsibility behind those decisions — who benefits from political decisions, whose needs are overlooked, and how governments account for the choices they make. I wanted an educational experience that could help me advocate for the issues I cared about. I saw TMU’s MPPA as an opportunity to develop that knowledge and judgment, so receiving an offer from the program meant a great deal to me.

I also thought about what I could bring to the community I was joining. I wanted to become more effective in my work, which meant being willing to question my assumptions, hear different perspectives and recognize where I could do better. At the same time, I wanted to create opportunities for others to learn and participate. I did not have every career step decided when I accepted the offer, but I knew that contributing to the community would be part of my education from the beginning. 

2. Tell me about your graduate student journey. What will you take away from your experience? 

During the MPPA, I moved between several roles: researcher, teaching assistant and community organizer. Each role asked something different of me, and together, they changed how I approach my work. 

My Bruce Fellowship research taught me to work patiently through complicated questions, to identify gaps in the evidence, and to be precise about the conclusions I could draw. Conversations with public servants and researchers helped me consider what my findings could mean for the people responsible for making decisions. 

Being a teaching assistant and organizing Beyond Tomorrow Impact brought different lessons. Helping a student understand an idea sometimes meant finding an entirely different way to explain it. Organizing an event meant balancing coordinating speakers, partnerships and logistics with the vision of the experience we wanted participants to have. I came to understand preparation and follow-through as forms of respect for the people relying on your work. 

3. What does receiving this award mean to you? 

I think first about the 17-year-old version of myself that was struggling in university and believed she had lost her future. There were moments when simply finishing university felt uncertain and at that age, I wanted so badly to make my parents proud. When my grades and interests took me in an unanticipated direction, I struggled to see that new path. I wish I could tell her how much was still possible. 

To now receive both the Gold Medal and the Board of Governors Student Leadership Award is something I am still taking in. Being given opportunities to represent students, mentor others, and bring young people together has meant a great deal to me. If my journey resonates with someone, I hope that sharing my experience helps motivate them to keep going. 

I share this recognition with my family and the mentors who supported me through the uncertain parts of my journey. I hope that, through this work, I have offered some of the encouragement that others so generously gave me. 

4. What are your future plans? How did the Faculty of Arts help prepare you for your career? 

I want to build a career that keeps me close to the communities I hope to serve. I see public service as one way to contribute, by helping governments make sound decisions about infrastructure, environmental protection, and the programs communities depend on. 

I also intend to continue building Beyond Tomorrow Impact. My hope is to have young people speak directly with decision-makers, ask difficult questions, and contribute ideas grounded in their own experiences. They have a stake in the decisions being made today, and they deserve a meaningful part in shaping them. 

The Faculty of Arts helped prepare me by asking me to work through the practical consequences of policy choices. Through policy and budget simulations or my research assistantships, I learned to be careful about the recommendations I make and attentive to the people affected by them. That is a responsibility I will carry into whichever role comes next. 

5. What advice would you give to a student not sure if the MPPA is right for them? 

Start with a public problem you care about – it could be housing, water, healthcare or something you have personally witnessed in your own community. Ask yourself whether you want to understand what it would take to address it — and whether you are willing to listen, examine the evidence, and reconsider your assumptions along the way. 

Then ask honest questions about the program. Speak with students and graduates about funding, workload, supervision, co-op placements, and career opportunities. Graduate school is a significant commitment of your time, energy, and resources and you deserve to have enough information to decide whether it serves your goals. You can begin that exploration without having your whole future decided. An unfamiliar path should be something you can investigate, rather than a reason to count yourself out. 

And read the hallway posters. One introduced me to the Bruce Fellowship. I could not have known, standing in that hallway, how much would follow. Ask about the opportunity. Apply, even if you are still finding the confidence to imagine yourself in it. Give yourself that chance.