President's Scholarship award winner Lily Berenchtein can't do enough. No matter how much she has on her academic plate, Berenchtein is too interested in non-academic pursuits to let the world go by untasted.
When she's not practising her recently- taken-up-sport of kickboxing, or playing classical guitar, you might find her pursuing the piano ("I think I work out all my frustrations on the 'heavier' pieces"), putting in a few hours a week as a volunteer student ombudsman ("I answer all the questions first-year students have"), or attending meetings of the physics and astronomy club. Did we mention ballroom dancing? She's doing that too.
Last year (her second) Berenchtein said she was pulled in many directions. Nothing seems to have changed in that regard. In first year, she was sure she wanted to teach, in second she wasn't so set on that goal. Now she says she's more interested in the process of learning. "I like the idea of learning about learning...thinking about how the mind works," she says.
Berenchtein received a mathematics fellowship that allowed her to work with one of her professors during the summer and attend some mathematics conferences. She says the experience was great. "Going to those conferences - especially the one on women and math - showed me that I could be part of that world. It seems more attainable now. I want to go to graduate school. Maybe get my PhD."
*
When Lawrence Lew Ho Chen was first interviewed he said coming to Canada on a scholarship made him realize his real "home" was Mauritius. Now that's changed. Lew Ho Chen says he feels "much more North Americanized." So much so that, after he completes his studies and goes back to work for a few years, he'll probably return to either Canada or the US.
Last year he said he was trying to be "a lot more open" about his life (gone are his first-year plans to "get married and settle down"). But this year he says he's far too busy to go out as much. "Third year is like the first and second combined!"
Lew Ho Chen has changed his academic direction slightly - last year he was mostly concentrating on financial accounting and economics. "I'm taking computer courses and mathematics now," he says, "I love programming." He also plans to pursue graduate work in financial mathematics.
*
When Paula Silva first arrived at York two years ago the Faculty of Education student was planning to major in English and geography. She kept the English but switched her other major to political science because of a friend's influence who was also a poly sci major.
Silva is still interested in teaching however, and enjoys practice teaching. "I taught Grades 4 and 5 - math, social studies and art. I think I love it because I'm making a difference with the kids," she says. "I've always liked teaching. Maybe it's because I'm a big kid myself."
She's finding third year a "little less busy" than her first two, and more manageable. While in first year Silva said she wanted to start her master's degree right away, now she's contemplating applying to law school.
*
"Once I'm on a track, I stay there," says Farrah Kassam. It seems Kassam's still on track in her desire to get married and get into med school. "My boyfriend [Sarfraz Visram, BBA'98] and I are definitely tying the knot this summer," promises Kassam. "We just have to have our condo completed first."
As she did last year, Kassam received a number of scholarships, one of the more prestigious being the externally awarded Fessenden-Trott Scholarship worth $9,000 (only four are awarded in Ontario). And she'll be working at York again this summer with biology professor Ronald Pearlman thanks to a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council award that pays part of her salary. "I worked four months last summer," she says. "And I'll be here for three months this year working in the area of recombinant DNA."
Pearlman has been a big help to her throughout her time at York, says Kassam. "He's been really good to me and other students. He's even helped me in terms of preparing for medical school. The whole application process has been a very humbling experience. I've found out they're not just interested in your brain, it's also about what you read, what you write - all your life experiences."
