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Sophia Roy: Helping students navigate a pandemic

Chemical engineering undergraduate is one of four ±«ÓćÖ±²„ students to win a 2021 Quebec Lieutenant Governor Youth medal

When the COVID crisis cancelled a lot of internships last summer, Sophia Roy and another student set up virtual classes ā€œto help young [high school] students continue learning science online, which is difficult to do.ā€

ā€œI was really passionate about that. We did experiments, it was really interactive, super fun and entertaining for the students,ā€ said Roy, who will graduate with a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree next May.

Roy is one of four ±«ÓćÖ±²„ students to win a 2021 Quebec Lieutenant Governor Youth medal. The prestigious award recognizes the involvement, determination and constant striving of Quebecers who have or have had a positive influence in their community. The other ±«ÓćÖ±²„ medalists areĀ ,ĢżĢż²¹²Ō»åĢż.

Roy applied for the medal only after a friend said the description applied to her.

As vice-president (external) ofĀ Ā (ChESS) she has organized events for students, connecting them with professionals to discuss the various avenues open to holders of a chemical engineering degree.

A whole new world

Concurrently, she spent time mentoring incoming engineering students through the facultyā€™s student-runĀ Promoting Opportunities for Women in EngineeringĀ (POWE) initiative.

ā€œI helped them with registration, how to get to their class [online], how to study, how to get involved [in campus life] ā€“ that sort of thing. My aim was to get them to feel comfortable ā€“ itā€™s hard for them to know what steps to take.ā€

She also got involved in the Engineering facultyā€™s plastics recycling sustainability project, getting students to interact with one another.

Roy was the 2020 recipient of ±«ÓćÖ±²„ Engineeringā€™s Inspirare Excellentia Scholarship, awarded on the basis of academic merit. She also won the 2019 Prix ReleĢ€ve (Chapeau Les Filles) awarded by MinisteĢ€re de lā€™EĢconomie et de lā€™Innovation du QueĢbec to promote womenā€™s career choices, and was twice awarded scholarships by the Fondation de lā€™Ordre des ingeĢnieurs du QueĢbec.

At her Ɖdouard Montpetit cĆ©gep in Longueuil, she won the Governor generalā€™s academic medal for the schoolā€™s second highest grade average in 2016 and was the sole finalist of the 2018 EĢdouard-Montpetit Schulich Leader scholarship.

Asked why the francophone student who had never studied in English picked ±«ÓćÖ±²„ for her post-secondary education, Roy replied: ā€œI thought it would really open up the whole world for me. In my [own] milieu, I wouldnā€™t have met so many incredible people from around the world. Iā€™m really glad I took that step, accepted that challenge to study in English and have access to that community. Itā€™s really special.ā€


This article was originally published in the .

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