Marnie Howlett
BIO
Marnie Howlett was born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She graduated high school in 2011 from Marion M. Graham Collegiate at the top of her class and as the top graduate in the Saskatoon Public School Division. During that time, she served as the student council president, an executive member of both the canoe and environmental clubs, directed the school’s variety night, and performed in the school’s musicals and with the dance academy. She also played basketball, volleyball, curled, and wrestled, as well as traveled with the school’s travel club to Brazil and Vietnam.
Outside of school, Marnie has always been equally as involved. At the age of three, she began Ukrainian dancing at the Saskatoon School of Dance, and eventually started taking jazz, lyrical, hip hop, and ballet classes. In 2010, she became a cast member of the Pavlychenko Folklorique Ensemble and has since performed with the company across Canada, Ukraine, and on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. Marnie has also taught dancing; Ukrainian dance in Prince Albert and Prud’homme and ballet, jazz, and hip-hop classes in Saskatoon. In addition to dancing, she enjoys celebrating her Ukrainian culture by singing with the Lastiwka Ukrainian Orthodox Choir, sitting on the Ukrainian Canadian Business Professionals Association and Stream of Hopes boards, and spending her summers working at Green Grove Ukrainian Orthodox Youth Camp at Wakaw Lake.
Marnie began her post-secondary education at the University of Saskatchewan in 2011. Combining her love of travel and passion for politics, she completed her Bachelor of Arts (High Honours) degree in International Studies with a major in international co-operation and conflict in 2015. During her time at the University of Saskatchewan, Marnie was a teaching assistant for the beginner Ukrainian language class at St. Thomas More College and a marking assistant for the Department of Political Studies. In addition, Marnie acted as an intern at C.L.A.S.S.I.C. (Community Legal Assistance Services for Saskatoon Inner City Inc.).
During her undergraduate studies, Marnie was fortunate to study the Ukrainian language in Lviv, Ukraine in May 2014. There, she became involved with Help Us Help The Children, a Toronto-based organization that holds summer and winter camps for orphaned and refugee children in Ukraine. Since 2014, Marnie has returned to Ukraine five more times to volunteer at these camps and at a rehabilitation workshop for families who have lost their husbands and fathers to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. She also supports Help Us Help The Children back home in Saskatoon by acting as the Saskatchewan Volunteer Coordinator and doing presentations, hosting events, and collecting donations of clothing and other goods to send to Ukraine.
Upon completion of her undergraduate degree, Marnie had the opportunity to serve as a Saskatchewan Legislative intern for seven months and worked with Members of the Legislative Assembly on both sides of Saskatchewan’s government. This work inspired her to pursue a Master of Arts in Political Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, which she plans to complete by the spring of 2017. Marnie hopes to join the Foreign Service one day, as well as earn a Doctor of Philosophy degree.
