On October 3, 2022, Maria Shepherd spoke to students at the University of Guelph.

Professor Carolyn Yule described the event as follows: “The room, despite being over capacity, was silent - you could have heard a pin drop. The audience was glued to Maria and listened to every word she said. There were tears, and some laughter, and we were treated to a very impactful slideshow of Maria’s beautiful family. Students had lots of questions and many stayed after the end of the session to ask more questions and find out how they could get involved. It was an incredible evening that I suspect will be the most memorable experience of many student’s undergraduate degrees. Many, many, many thanks to Maria!”