For every person whose path remains unwavering, there’s at least one person like Katie Maximick.
That said, even she could never have predicted her current status five years ago.
Katie is the communications and fund development assistant for the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation – a far cry from what she had in mind when she left the Comox Valley for post-secondary school last decade.
Katie started her university studies in Victoria, then went to Vancouver to get a post-grad certificate in journalism at Langara, which she completed in 2012.
“From there I went to Fort St. John. It was the only full-time sports reporter job available in western Canada. I got it, and I went.”
It wasn’t her first taste of a northern B.C. winter.
“I actually had spent a year there (Fort St. John) before, so when I went back, I knew a bunch of people there already. So it really worked well for me. But minus 40 is just too cold.
“Minus 40, no ocean smell, I kind of felt like a fish out of water. But it was a neat experience. I have a lot of really good friends there, still. But they can come here and visit me now.”
Katie will always have a spot in her heart for Fort St. John. It’s where she met her husband.
“He’s from Nova Scotia. He went there (Fort St. John) for work and I went there for work.”
And they both left there to move to the Comox Valley, with no jobs and no real prospects.
When Katie explained what compelled them to leave, her new career began to make a lot of sense.
“Yes, we were making really good money, but the lifestyle up there at times is too much about money, too materialistic, and we started to see our friends change – friends that we never thought would change. So we started thinking, what if we change? What if we become the people with that materialistic culture that we don’t want to be? So we just kind of took a leap of faith, quit our jobs and came back here.
“I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. It took a little while, but here I am, working at the hospital I was born in, doing something that brings funding in, and changes people.”
Now, instead of keeping up with the Joneses in Fort St. John, she’s helping the Joneses in Comox.
“I sure never thought when I went into journalism that I would end up in a fundraising job. But I feel real strongly that I am doing the right thing.”
And the changes continue for Maximick; more accurately, for the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation. There are big changes, right around the corner. What are they? You can be the first to find out by buying a spot in the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation Golf Tournament.