U of C student Tori Rose wins Schulich leader scholarship
By Emma Djukic, October 16 2023—
The Schulich Leader Scholarship is one of the most prestigious and coveted awards in all of Canada. More than 300,000 high school candidates apply every year, and there are only 100 awards of $120,000 awarded to the most deserving students in the country. This year, the University of Calgary recognizes six recipients of this award. These passionate students are pursuing STEM and innovation in preparation for their academic careers to come.
One of these winners is Tori Rose, an engineering student with considerable involvement in the STEM fields already.
“I always liked science and math in school, so I thought engineering would be a good fit. I’m thinking about mechanical or civil engineering in future years.”
Rose was one of 47 students accepted to participate in the 2022 WISEST Summer Research Program at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
“There were a lot of different [opportunities] which was awesome and we also had networking opportunities so we met other professors and industry professionals,” said Rose. “[There were] also, other students in STEM so those were really great opportunities. At the end of the summer, I got to present my research to the public so family came and then also other professors and researchers. It was a really good experience.”
The research Rose worked on was part of a phonetics project under the larger study of linguistics. Rose worked with researchers and professors to develop a better understanding of how people imitate others and replicate their speech.
“I got put in the linguistics lab where my professor gave me some options of the different kinds of things I could research depending on what interests me so that I did get a little bit of choice with that,” said Rose. In the end, I was looking at how people mimic the way the letters “D” and “G” are pronounced when you hear something and then you have to repeat it.”
Throughout her high school career, Rose was also a member of the Alberta Health Services’ Nutrition Youth Advisory Panel, where she worked with dietitians to improve the way they promoted nutrition to the youth.
“I was always really interested in nutrition. Growing up I was interested in it. We worked with dietitians and they would present some old resources they had, like posters or slideshows or ways they would teach junior high and high school students about nutrition,” said Rose. “We would then look through those resources and then everyone would give their input about what they liked, what they would change, what they think is interesting, so that when they go back and redo those resources they can make them better and more engaging for students.”
The communities and networking you build in your time at university are ways to gain connections and find support systems. The Schulich Leaders are part of their own community, and Rose remarked on what being part of that incredible group of individuals has meant to her.
“It’s awesome because there’s so many people in the community that we can all connect to and help each other. I feel really honoured to get this scholarship since it’s such an amazing opportunity and yeah it means a lot,” said Rose.
As STEM continues to become integral to daily life, more individuals are becoming future leaders in these cutting-edge fields. When asked if she has any plans for innovation during her time at the University, Rose discussed he passion for learning and advancing her knowledge and how she hopes to apply that through various initiatives.
“I think I’ll know more clearly later on, but definitely through clubs, probably helping or being part of a design team for engineering, then test it and put real applications into my knowledge.”
For more information about the Schulich Leader Scholarship, visit their website.