University of Guelph-Humber

Larissa Kostevskii had been working for more than 10 years when she realized she wanted to go back to school. Trained as an early childhood educator, Larissa had spent her time working in daycares, and had done extra training to provide support to children with special needs, but in 2010, she decided to make a change.  

“I knew that I wanted to expand my knowledge, so, with the encouragement of my manager, I enrolled in the University of Guelph-Humber’s Early Childhood Studies program,” she says. While continuing to work at the Humber Daycare Centre where she’d been employed since 2000, Larissa began taking classes at UofGH part-time. “I really would have liked to start this degree earlier, but I told myself that it’s never too late to start. Besides, this profession is changing on an ongoing basis, so doing my degree is one of the best ways to keep up with the research.”

Working on Humber College’s North Campus, she didn’t have far to travel to attend her classes, and so Larissa quickly fell back into being a student.

“I love that it’s quite a small place, so I’ve been able to develop great relationships with my professors — I think that’s helped me,” she says. “It’s been fun, really, especially the in-class courses. I was worried that I’d be the oldest person there, but I’ve learned so much from my younger fellow students.”

One of those younger students was more familiar than the others, because starting in the fall of 2012, Larissa’s daughter Nicole began her studies at UofGH too. After graduating high school, Nicole was unsure of what path to take, but when her mother introduced her to UofGH’s Family and Community Social Services program, she soon found it was a good fit.

“I always knew I wanted to work with people, and I loved that UofGH gave me a practical component to go with my classes. I thought it would really help me get a sense of whether the field was where I wanted to be,” she says.

When Nicole started, she was apprehensive about going to the same school as her mother, and as luck would have it, the two were both enrolled together in Nicole’s first class.

“My first lecture here, I sat beside my mom,” she says with a laugh. “It was kind of awkward at first, but now I’m used to it. Everybody knows she’s my mom, so it’s not a big deal. We didn’t have classes together after that, but we still see each other in the halls.”  

In 2014, Larissa decided to switch to ECS’ degree completion program, taking many of her courses online. The hybrid program doesn’t just fit her busy schedule better, it’s introduced her to other fellow professionals.

“This is something we’re doing as a family ... “We’ve definitely had some nights where we’re asking ‘are we out of ink?’ ‘Is there more paper?’ ‘The internet is down what do we do?’”

“In the hybrid program, you have people who are managers, directors — people with lots of work experience. I’ve learned tremendously about the work community and it’s given me lots of networking opportunities too,” she says.

While in school together, Larissa and Nicole have worked to support each other so both can do their best. Larissa draws her years of work experience to help her daughter, and Nicole edits her mother’s paper before she hands them in.

“This is something we’re doing as a family. We have two students, well, three if you count my son, who’s in high school, all trying to do homework and finish assignments,” says Larissa. “We’ve definitely had some nights where we’re asking ‘are we out of ink?’ ‘Is there more paper?’ ‘The internet is down what do we do?’” 

After working through the challenges of being a student the past 4 years, Nicole is a little in awe of how her mother’s done it all.

“She’s managed to keep up with all the work of having a job, being a student, a wife, and a mother,” she says. “It’s kind of amazing — I couldn’t do it all.”

Now enrolled in their final few classes, both Nicole and Larissa plan to graduate together this summer.

Learn more about the Early Childhood Degree Completion Program

This is the second in a series of articles about our students and alumni. For further information, to volunteer or to donate, please visit to our alumni webpage.

Part 1: Pursuing the dream