Bachelor of Business Administration graduate Dawson Baptie finds his voice and community at Laurier

June 11, 2025

Dawson Baptie, a Bachelor of Business Administration student, was one of 114 Indigenous graduates honoured at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Indigenous graduation celebration this spring. Held at the Gathering Place on the Grand on Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ohsweken, the event recognized fall 2024 and spring 2025 graduates.

Baptie crossed the stage to receive his Indigenous graduate stole – part of a tradition Laurier has carried on since 2022.

The celebration was especially meaningful for Baptie, who is Métis, but didn’t participate in events or programming hosted by Adjiwan Kaandossiwin Gamik – Laurier’s Waterloo campus Indigenous Student Centre – until his third year.

“I guess I never felt comfortable, or ‘Indigenous enough’ to access those services,” says Baptie. “I felt like I didn’t want to take away from other people’s experiences.”

Baptie, who also minored in French, became involved during his third year, working as an Indigenous Student Centre assistant on the Waterloo campus and vice-president of finance for the Indigenous Students’ Association.

“It’s something I wish I had done sooner,” he says. “I realized that it’s open to all Indigenous students, even those without strong connections to their culture. If you want to learn about your Indigeneity, you’ll be welcomed.”

As a member of the Indigenous Students’ Association, Baptie helped organize a medicine workshop, where an Elder taught students about Indigenous medicine teachings and participants made their own medicine bags.

“Getting more involved spurred a desire to go to the Indigenous Student Centre more often to connect with other students,” he says. “I made a lot of friendships and connections that I am thankful for.”

Baptie says starting his first year during the COVID-19 pandemic was challenging, but Laurier’s welcoming community and campus environment helped him succeed.

“The people make all of the difference,” he says. “Everyone’s going through the same thing and you build solidarity together.”

As pandemic restrictions began to lift and in-person classes resumed, Baptie’s world expanded outside of his residence as he embraced campus activities, community outreach events and faculty-specific programming through the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics.

He also took on an internship at Sun Life, where he worked as a global finance strategy and enablement coordinator, planning events within the enterprise finance area of the company.

“It definitely helped me get my footing in the professional world,” he says.

Baptie’s world expanded even further when he participated in an outbound exchange semester at Kedge Business School in Marseille, France.

“The south of France was incredible,” he says. “Walking down to the beach after class to have a swim was a highlight of my life.”

Studying at Kedge allowed Baptie to gain valuable international business insights to pair with his experience at Sun Life. Together, these experiences helped Baptie focus on his future career goals.

“Having an international experience like that has motivated me to look for some level of international exposure in my career,” he says. “I’d like to work on projects that have meaningful impact. And doing that on a broader, international scale, that would be awesome.”