News Articles
U of G Student Wins Rhodes Scholarship
President's Scholar will do graduate work in global health science at Oxford
BY DEIRDRE HEALEY
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| Kate Smolina |
Kate Smolina, a fourth-year student in biomedical sciences, has won a Rhodes Scholarship to pursue graduate studies in global health science at the University of Oxford.
Students from some 20 countries compete annually for 90 Rhodes Scholarships, which are worth about $35,000 a year and cover tuition, fees and a living allowance.
“This is literally a dream come true,” says Smolina, who arrived at Guelph as a President's Scholar in 2004. “There are no words to express the gratitude, the excitement and the honour that I feel. I will do my very best to be a great ambassador for the University of Guelph as well as for Canada.”
President Alastair Summerlee, a faculty member in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, has high words of praise for Smolina.
“Kate is an exceptionally rare student in terms of her intellectual ability, passion for learning, unrelenting determination and genuine deep desire to help others by improving the world we live in. She has the talent, the drive and the winning personality to succeed wherever she goes in life.”
Smolina won the Lionel Bradley Pett Scholarship for the highest average in biomedical sciences during her third year and has the top average this year as well. Graduating from high school, she received a Loran Award, given annually to up to 30 Canadians for academic excellence, leadership skills, community involvement and character.
Besides her academic achievements, she is dedicated to volunteering and has been involved in a number of organizations related to health care, peace building and international development. She also served on the 21st-Century Curriculum Committee.
Smolina has travelled to India and Costa Rica, where she helped communities with construction work, teaching English and volunteering in rural hospitals.
She hopes her graduate work at Oxford will lead to research in epidemiology of infectious diseases, an interest sparked by her travels to developing countries. Her long-term career goal is to work for the World Health Organization and take a leadership role in bridging the fields of medicine, epidemiology and public health to control infectious diseases.