You can excuse Sylvia Smith for taking a few extra years to complete her master’s thesis in Education. It’s been quite an academic journey for Smith and it will lead to Fall Convocation October 20 where she will receive the President’s Distinguished Graduate Student Award. Smith, a recently retired teacher who lives in Ottawa, is the inspiration behind Project of Heart. The project is an interactive teaching tool used across the country to tell the story of the troubled history of residential schools in Canada. The program has had a major impact in classrooms across the country.