A Mountain of Support: Spotlight on Karen and Sarah Dowling
Sarah and Karen Dowling
Karen Dowling still has the note her daughter Sarah passed to her when they first toured Rundle Academy back in 2005. On a small, lined notebook sheet, Sarah’s 10-year-old blue handwriting was clear: “I want to go here!!”
Sarah Dowling graduated from the Academy in 2012. Today, she is the first female ski patrol supervisor at Banff Sunshine Village Ski & Snowboard Resort. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics from University of Guelph, and graduated with distinction. She spends her days supporting skiers on the slopes, writing emergency-response plans, hiring and training staff and conquering a mountain of admin work.
These feats are all the more impressive when Sarah talks about how the Academy helped her land where she is today.
“Without Rundle, I would have struggled to graduate high school, let alone go on to a college education and career,” she says. “Rundle gave me the confidence, as a person, to push the social norms.”
Twenty years ago, however, the Dowling family wasn’t at all certain about Sarah’s future.
“Sarah had been diagnosed with a learning disability in grade 3, and she was reading at a grade 1 level when she would have been going into grade 4,” recalls Karen. “We met with a few schools but knew she wasn’t going to be getting the support she needed.”
The family worked with a specialist who supported Sarah in raising her reading levels, but it wasn’t until that fateful open house at the Academy that Karen and Sarah realized their lives would change.
“Seeing something like Rundle was amazing,” says Karen. “The way the teachers spoke, you could tell they really cared about getting to know the students and finding tools that would help them grow.”
The teaching and faculty consistency became a turning point for Sarah, who had spent much of her elementary years in a blizzard of sick days. Suddenly, school was somewhere she wanted to be.
“To this day, something I carry forward from Rundle is that my disability was nothing to be ashamed of or hide,” says Sarah. “I was encouraged to talk about it and find out how I learn best. Now, the first time I meet someone I have no reservations opening up and talking about that part of my life. Sometimes, that helps other people, too.”
Sarah has a veracious love of learning — something Karen attributes to Rundle’s support. She believes the level of attention and care Sarah received isn’t something she would have had in other educational settings. That fact has compelled Karen to dedicate a $50,000 contribution to the Building Futures campaign to ensure other students and families receive the same opportunities.
“Rundle offers a learning style which so many kids could benefit from. I want to see more children having that chance,” Karen says. “Not every kid needs to make straight-A’s, but if we could raise children who are more confident in themselves, what a better world it would be. I wish every kid had that opportunity.”
Sarah is the first to say she never expected to be thriving in an admin-heavy career, let alone looking forward to the continuing education courses she has to take every year to support her work. For that, she says she owes her thanks to the Rundle staff and other students that made her path feel possible.
“I have a lot of gratitude for the people who have helped me on my own journey, and I thank everyone involved in fostering that same thirst for learning in other kids now,” says Sarah. “The more people can experience this kind of engagement in their education, the more they will succeed.”
