Governor General’s Bronze Medal 2026: Ryan Caswell proves it’s never too late to change direction

Ryan Caswell spent years building cabinets before deciding it was time to build something new for himself.

The recipient of UFV’s 2026 Governor General’s Bronze Medal, awarded to the diploma student with the highest academic standing, Ryan returned to post-secondary education more than 20 years after first attending BCIT. Now completing UFV’s Computer Information Systems , he says receiving the recognition came as a surprise.

“I knew I had good grades,” he says with a laugh. “But I wasn’t really thinking about the medal. I had already applied to graduate, so it definitely caught me off guard.”

Ryan originally worked in trades and cabinetry, eventually running a cabinet-making business with his father-in-law for several years. After his father-in-law passed away, he continued operating the company on his own before ultimately selling the business at the end of 2024 to return to school full-time.

“I’d always been into computers,” he says. “Most people I told were like, ‘It’s about time.’”

Now 43, Ryan says returning to school after more than two decades away from post-secondary education was an adjustment, especially alongside classmates much younger than himself.

“One of the people in my class was trying to figure out how old I was, and I joked that I have a kid almost their age,” he says.

Still, he says the experience reinforced the importance of continuing to learn and adapt, even later in life.

“Don’t be afraid to change what your sights are set on,” he says. “I started thinking I was doing a library degree, then a Geographic Information Systems certificate, then CIS. It’s okay to try new things.”

Ryan credits much of his decision to return to school to his wife, who completed two degrees herself while helping manage their family.

“Seeing her do that really encouraged me to go back,” he says. “She’s been the drive to keep me going all the way to a degree, even when the projects and assignments are piling up.”

Alongside his studies, Ryan also works in IT for Communitas Supportive Care Society in Abbotsford. Through that role and conversations with faculty members such as Cherie Enns, he began to see technology as more than simply corporate work.

“There’s a lot more to IT than just working for big companies,” he says. “It’s easier to go to work every day when you care about what you’re doing and feel like you’re helping make the world a better place.”

Despite earning the highest academic standing in his diploma program and among all 2026 UFV diploma graduates, Ryan remains humble about the recognition.

“Grades are kind of just letters on a piece of paper,” he says. “But an award is something more. It’s nice to have that recognition.”

Ryan plans to continue his studies toward a degree after convocation. And if everything goes well, he jokes, perhaps another medal ceremony is not entirely out of the question.