When applying to university, I started with UCalgary for a Bachelors of Art in Drama with a concurrent Bachelor of Education. I later applied to UNBC, when I learned that my family was moving back to Prince George, for a Bachelors of Science with a joint major in Mathematics and Physics. I love to tell this as it shows how diverse my interests are! I joke about the “duality of man” but people are multi-faceted and that is something to be celebrated.
Beginning in the fall of 2017, I studied with the intention of getting my BSc and then figuring it out later. I had loved and excelled in Math and Physics in highschool but the post-secondary level of those courses was a whole other beast. Slowing down the pace at which I took courses definitely helped! What helped even more was reaching out to classmates to create a personal support system and sense of community within the small department. That was first disrupted in the fall of 2019, and was further disrupted throughout the following years due to the pandemic and some personal health issues. After taking a year away from post-secondary, I found it extremely difficult to jump back into the upper-level courses. My love for the subjects was getting buried under my struggle to try to keep up. I knew I needed a change and that came in the form of the education program. I was able to apply for the Elementary cohort of the program via the 90-credit hour route after taking a few specific prerequisite courses.
Some highlights from my time in the BSc program:
Physics Conferences
CCUWIP2019 (Conference for Canadian Undergraduate Women in Physics) in Ottawa, Ontario and CUPC2019 (Canadian Undergraduate Physics Conference) in Montreal, Quebec.
[Pictures to come!]
A featured guest at CCUWIP2019 was Nobel Prize Lauriet, Donna Strickland, who I had the pleasure of meeting briefly.
Physics Lab Opportunities
[ID Begin: A series of four pictures of lab equipment used in my advanced physics lab. The first image is of a pegboard style table with a series of black tools placed along a desired path. There is a small red light seen on two of the components. The second image is of an x-ray spectrometer – a gray circular device with angle measurements around the edge. There is a moveable carriage along the middle directed at a bulb also along the centre line. The third picture is of a series of aligator clips with focus on the monster resistor which is made of a multitude of small resistors soldered together. The fourth picture is the set-up using the monster resistor. There is a device suspended above a styrofoam container containing liquid nitrogen. There are papers scattered around the table with lab notes and in the foreground one reads “PHYS 390 Advanced Physics Lab.” ID End.]