Winner of the 2013 MFA Scholarship, Denise Higginson is in the Master of Fine Art program and will graduate in 2014. She has a Bachelor of Fine Art from the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver and took part in the International Exchange Program at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, a few years ago. Denise has shown her work in Sweden, Vancouver, Rhode Island and at the University of Guelph. She has won scholarships for painting and worked as a graphic designer and web coordinator.
Winner of the College of Engineering award to the female student with the highest cumulative average, Hillary Dawkins is finishing her third year of the BSc program in theoretical physics at U of G. A graduate of Centennial CVI in Guelph, she held an Undergraduate Research Award in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics last summer. She has attended the Women in Physics Conference and the International Summer School for Young Physicists at the prestigious Perimeter Institute in Waterloo. Hillary is the co-founder and was president of the Science Expo Youth Empowerment Group that promotes activities for high school students in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. She was also a regional ambassador for the Student Mentorship Association Regarding Technology & Science, a program that promotes involvement in science fairs to high school and elementary students and provides a network for students to connect with science fair mentors. Hillary has also been a voluntary tutor for Action Read Literacy Centre in Guelph.
Winner of the graduate award in Nutritional Sciences, Erin Connelly is a PhD student in Human Health and Nutritional Sciences working on food products that promote health in diseases such as osteoarthritis. Her research to date has involved running a clinical trial examining the benefits of a University of Guelph produced spearmint tea for osteoarthritis pain relief. Erin is a graduate of the University of Guelph biomedical toxicology program and worked for three years as a toxicologist with Cantox Health Sciences International in Mississauga before returning to graduate studies. She recently took first place in the Research Institute for Aging’s student research pitch contest where she had to present her research in two minutes to a mixed audience of professors, dieticians, older adult care workers, and older adults. She is a mentor in the after school “Go Girls” program run by Big Brothers/Big Sisters where she works with grade 6, 7, & 8 girls to teach them about active living, balanced eating and self-esteem in an activity-based learning program. She is a soccer coach for under seven girls in Guelph, and was a running mentor through the Peel Children’s Aid Society, where she trained a 15-year old girl to run a 10km portion of the Mississauga marathon as part of a team of teens from Peel Children’s Aid.
