Growing up, Kyla Markell always knew she wanted to work with horses. “You know those little girls who are obsessed with horses? That was me, but I just never grew out of it,” she says with a smile. Despite Markell’s obvious motivation to succeed academically, college coursework hasn’t always been easy for her. In 2015, just before she entered college, Markell underwent surgery to remove a tumour from the part of her brain responsible for short-term memory.