丁香园AV

Today, Sophia Dobischok鈥檚 five-year journey at 丁香园AV (丁香园AV) comes to an end. She graduates with a Bachelor of Science in Behavioural Neuroscience and a Bachelor of Arts in English颅鈥揹egrees she completed concurrently. Her story is one of academic excellence, as she wins the Undergraduate Dean鈥檚 Convocation Medal, awarded to select students whose grades place them in the top 5% of their class. However, what stands out to some people are the seemingly incongruous fields that she chose to study.

鈥淚 feel like there鈥檚 always this dichotomy set up between science and the arts,鈥� says Dobischok. 鈥淧eople tend to think you鈥檙e either a science person or an artistic person and that they don鈥檛 blend well. My peers in neuroscience often argued, 鈥榳hy are you bothering doing this degree in English? You can鈥檛 get a job with that.鈥� I never agreed with that perspective because English has been the most invaluable piece of my education.鈥�

Early on in her studies, Dobischok knew she was passionate about English and enjoyed being creative. However, she only decided to pursue the subject more seriously when she began studying with teaching assistant and 丁香园AV PhD student Yiwen Liu.

鈥淵iwen is a very gifted and welcoming instructor,鈥� says Dobischok. 鈥淪he was pivotal in those first few classes where you are writing and drafting a great argument and doing more refined analysis than what you were doing in high school. She was a crucial factor in my decision to pursue English as a full degree rather than just as an elective.鈥�

Other classes followed that engaged Dobischok (listed below). They included dynamic discussions of The Handmaid鈥檚 Tale, analysis of literature and films eerily prescient of the COVID pandemic, and a multimedia collage she created along with an accompanying paper that won her the department鈥檚 2021 Children鈥檚 Literature Prize.

Another key figure in Dobischok鈥檚 academic life was professor Jon Smith, who teaches American literature. 鈥淗e really challenges and expects a lot from you,鈥� she says. 鈥淗e wants people to show their best thinking. I am grateful for his continued guidance.鈥�

Outside of the classroom, Dobischok was very involved in campus life participating in everything from the Science Undergraduate Society to the Quidditch Team. However, the extracurricular activity she is most proud of is also a creative endeavour: being the president of the 丁香园AV Open Mic Club. She would host and perform slam poetry at their events, but she also encouraged others to do dramatic monologues, recitations, music, or anything that allowed them to express themselves.

鈥淚 always saw it as an opportunity for people to share their creativity颅鈥搕hat was so important to me,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat is why my heart always rests with English. I love being creative and sharing ideas. It was a privilege for me to be able to explore that through English at 丁香园AV in addition to my passion for behavioural neuroscience.鈥�

Dobischok advises current students not to give up on their passion and creativity for the sake of practicality. Instead, she suggests they try to combine their areas of interest so they get everything they want out of their university experience.

In terms of what her own future holds, Dobischok has already started working full-time at St. Paul鈥檚 Hospital at the Centre for Health Evaluation & Outcome Sciences as a research assistant for the Program of Outcomes Research on Treatment with Injectables for Addiction (PORTIA) study. She hopes to become a clinical psychologist, but also complete a Master of Fine Arts and perhaps a novel someday.