Nursing Student Poses With Ancestral Photo After Hyper Local Practicum

Jeff Green | Apr 02, 2025

Grace Guigue just completed an 11- week consolidation practicum for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree program for Registered Nursing at the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team, working mostly with Certified Diabetes Educator Cassandra Forshner.

Grace is very close to the end of her 4th year at the St. Lawrence College Nursing Program where she will be part of the first cohort to graduate as a Registered Nurse (RN) after the college established its own stand-alone program.

She has a few exams left to complete and will graduate in June, at which time she will have her licensing exam to complete. She will be looking for a nursing job ideally remaining local at this time, but she has plans to go back to school once she has some work experience, and finances, in order to pursue further education such as a Nurse Practitioner or a Medical Doctor in the future.

Since Grace was raised in the Sharbot Lake area, the practicum at the Family Health Team was a different experience than her previous ones. “It was very easy to feel comfortable here because this time I already knew a lot of the people when I walked in the door. The Sharbot Lake Family Health Team is a friendly place to work, making it a great placement, and I learned a lot working in a Diabetic Educator role.”

Before Grace left the Family Health Team last week, Dr. Bell, the founder of the clinic and an avid collector of historical photos, wanted to get Grace to pose next to one of them.

The photo, which is also hanging in the Sharbot Lake Township Hall, is of Mary and Francis Shabot, an Indigenous couple who were living in Sharbot Lake when the village was being established in the 1860’s. Sharbot Lake was named after Francis Shabot who was a known fishing guide, among other pursuits.

Grace is the great, great, great-granddaughter of Francis and Mary Shabot, who has strong ties to the surrounding area as a member of the Shabot Obaadijwan First Nation.