Mensa essay winners:
Attached are the two essay winners and two honourable mentions in Mensa Canada’s national competition. The judges included Calgary’s Peter Walker and Lethbridge’s Morna Hussey. The winner’s receive $750 each. The parameters are self-evident.
Winners
Amanda McLarty I believe the north is a unique part of Canada and teaching in the north comes with unique circumstances. When I was a child going to school in a northern community, I saw many well meaning teachers that couldn’t deal with these circumstances. Unfortunately those who suffered were the children who did not get the attention they deserved. After working in the daycare system I realized that I wanted to continue my education and joined the Indian Teacher Education Program. Majoring in Native Studies has helped me understand the children in my home community and territory. As I am nearing my final year of my Bachelor of Education Program at the University of Saskatchewan I am more certain than ever that I have chosen the correct career path. Through my education I have had to balance part time work and leaving home and family but my passion and goal to make a difference in children’s lives has driven me. My plan is to graduate and teach as part of the community that I feel so close to. Since graduating from high school I have been contributing to my northern community through practice teaching, work placements and volunteering through Girl Guides Canada. I know that when I graduate the north is where I want to return, hopefully encouraging children and inspiring them. These last four months will be an exciting final part of a long path, a path that I know will lead to a rewarding career shaping northern Canada’s future.
Anne Landau Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder. Through my thesis work towards a doctoral degree in the Department of Physiology at McGill University, I have identified a novel neuroprotective agent in models of PD. My research interest lies in the development of strategies to rescue and replace diseased neurons. I plan to accomplish postdoctoral studies using brain stimulation as a potential cure for PD. My personal long-term goal is a career in biomedical research and teaching. My first exposure to scientific research was when I worked in a DNA repair laboratory as a college student. Through this work, my interest in medical research grew which launched me into a research-based honours undergraduate program at McGill where I conducted research in a "Neurophysiology of Pain" laboratory. Funded through awards from McGill and Quebec (FRSQ), I completed the work for a Master’s degree in the same laboratory. Meanwhile, watching my grandmother battle Alzheimer’s disease shifted my focus to the study of neuroprotection, the topic of my doctoral research funded by a CIHR Canada Graduate Scholarship. I received a travel grant from the Society for Neuroscience to present my findings at a meeting in Portugal, a summer research fellowship under the auspices of CIHR and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to conduct research in Japan, and a dissertation fellowship from Standard Life Insurance Company. These research opportunities, in conjunction with my experience in teaching, writing and problem solving have prepared me for a future as a scientific researcher.
Honourable Mentions
Kate Buchan Growing up I was extremely reluctant to speak due to a speech impediment, but it was my first grade teacher who instilled in me a sense of courageousness that empowered me to aspire to my full potential. It has since been my goal to do for children what that teacher did for me.I am now in my second year of an undergraduate degree in Child and Youth Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University, working towards a career with children. I have volunteered and worked with children in various capacities throughout my life. In the past, as a Tutor with the Children’s Aid Society and as a Program Assistant for special needs children at a childcare center. Currently, I am a Tutor for the Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority and a Literacy Tutor for the Halifax Public Libraries. On the road to eventually working as an Itinerant Teacher for deaf and hard-of-hearing children in the public sector, I plan to complete a Bachelor’s of Education degree, followed by a Master’s in Education Psychology. It is important to me that I maintain my position on the Deans’ List, while Minoring in French and expanding my fluency in American Sign Language through ongoing immersion courses. Simply put, working with special needs children is the most gratifying occupation I can imagine. It is my desire to cultivate in the children that I encounter the self-confidence that was embedded in me by that very special teacher a long time ago.
Célia Kremer La découverte de l’anthropologie judiciaire fut décisive dans mon choix de carrière car elle est une science idéale pour allier les connaissances sur l’anatomie et les cultures humaines. Elle a également l’avantage d’aider nos pairs dans l’identification de personnes disparues ou la détermination des causes de la mort. Ainsi, elle est applicable dans des contextes autant mineurs (disparition d’individu, découverte de squelette…) que majeurs (charniers de pays anciennement dictatoriaux…). Elle présente donc un rôle humanitaire important et ce côté me fascine. Malheureusement, cette spécialisation n’existe pas au Québec et ma formation se base uniquement sur des démarches particulières et personnelles. Ainsi, pour développer mon expérience judiciaire, j’effectue depuis plus d’une année un bénévolat illimité au Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale de Montréal sous la direction d’une pathologiste judiciaire reconnue. Je publie également des articles dans plusieurs revues scientifiques afin de contribuer aux connaissances dans ce domaine. J’ai enseigné au niveau universitaire les techniques de mesures du corps humain, je donne actuellement un cours d’introduction à l’anthropologie judiciaire et en ostéologie. Sur le plan académique, j’ai une maîtrise portant sur la reconstruction faciale dans un cadre judiciaire et j’entame à l’Université de Montréal un doctorat sur les fractures crâniennes associées à différents mécanismes. Au Québec, l’anthropologie judiciaire est peu développée et la bourse Mensa Canada me serait vraiment utile afin d’acquérir les compétences et les qualifications nécessaires pour obtenir mon doctorat et adhérer à la communauté si utile des anthropologues judiciaires canadiens. The discovery of legal anthropology was decisive in choosing a career because it’s an ideal field combining knowledge of human anatomy and cultures. It also has the advantage of helping our peers in the identification of missing people or determining the cause of death. Thus, it is applicable as well in minor contexts (disappearance of individual, discovered skeleton) as well as major (mass graves in former dictatorial countries). It presents an important humanitarian role, and this aspect fascinates me. Unfortunately, this specialization does not exist in Quebec and my training is based only on particular and personal steps. To enhance my legal experience, since over a year ago, I carry out an unlimited voluntary help at the Montreal Legal Science and Forensic medicine Laboratory under the direction of a recognized legal pathologist. I also publish articles in several scientific reviews in order to contribute to knowledge in this field. I taught measurement techniques of the human body at the university level, I currently give an introduction course to legal anthropology and in osteology. On the academic level, I have a Masters Degree in facial rebuilding within a legal framework and I am starting a Doctor’s Degree at the University of Montreal on cranial fractures associated to various mechanisms. In Quebec, legal anthropology is not very developed and the Mensa Canada Scholarship would be really useful to acquire competences and the qualifications necessary to obtain my doctorate and join the community of Canadian legal anthropologists.
