She quit university due to an alcohol problem. Now sober, she landed a $35K scholarship

Laura Eamon was a few months into her first semester at Carleton University in 2011 when she was taken from a residence party to hospital by paramedics.

Embarrassed by being carried out in front of her fellow students, her mindset changed when she was discharged and returned to campus in Ottawa.

"People are cheering and chanting, and like, 'Oh, my God. You're the girl that got taken by ambulance. You drink as much as I do,'" said Eamon. "It was almost like a badge of honour."

It wasn't the only time Eamon, originally from Hammonds Plains, N.S., went to hospital because of excessive drinking.

From 2008 to 2013, alcohol was a big part of Eamon's life. Her struggles with alcohol eventually led her to drop out of university.

But Eamon is now back at university, this time at Saint Mary's in Halifax. Sober for more than eight years, the 28-year-old just landed a prestigious Frank H. Sobey scholarship worth $35,000, one of nine given out annually to undergraduate business students in Atlantic Canada. She has a year left in her studies.

As part of her application for the scholarship, which included reference letters, written essays and an interview process, Eamon talked about her sobriety.

"I wanted to show that it is a possibility for people to change, for people to grow, for people to survive substance-use disorder," she said.

Eamon started drinking when she went to C.P. Allen High School in Bedford, N.S., and liked the confidence it gave her. She believed alcohol was part of the package that included new friends, big parties and adventure.

Even though Eamon skipped a lot of classes, she kept her grades up. She graduated in 2011, and wanting to go somewhere bigger than Halifax, she decided on Ottawa.

"And when I got into university, the alcohol sort of took over," said Eamon.

In her first year, she lived in residence. She failed a few classes and barely scraped by in the others, missing a lot of instruction time along the way.

Eamon headed home for the summer with a friend, Kassie Nadler. The two split a place in downtown Halifax, but Nadler left after about a month.

"She packed up all of her stuff and said, 'I can't do this anymore. It's impossible to live with you and you're ruining my time here. You are sick and this is too much. Something's got to change. And I'll see you in Ottawa in September,'" said Eamon. "And she left."