Science star preps for U of W

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This article was published 16/05/2016 (3717 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

St. James Collegiate student Vanessa McKay has an impressive awards shelf, but her most impressive accomplishment is where she finds the time to get it all done.

“No sleep,” McKay said with a laugh. “Just kidding. Pretty much I wake up early and I do work, I go to school and then come home and do work and go to bed. The only other thing I really do is rock climbing.”

The Grade 12 student recently received a City of Winnipeg 2016 Role Model Award in the community service category for her ongoing participation in a variety of committees and groups. Throughout high school, McKay has been an active member of the youth in philanthropy group and student council.

Last summer, she interned at the Global College at the University of Winnipeg where she helped with the Emerging Issues in Human Rights course.

“So I got really exposed to the human rights sector and what it means to be a human rights activist,” McKay said. “I got really involved with a few organizations over the summer and I’ve just kind of kept up with those and trying to be as actively involved as possible.”

McKay also received multiple awards for the project she submitted to science fairs this year, earning herself gold at the St. James-Assiniboia Divisional Science Fair, gold at the Manitoba Schools Science Symposium, and the Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba Engineering Award for senior high school students.

“My project was on boats, it was called Improving Water Vessel Speed and Efficiency, so using a looser density field in front of a boat to improve those things,” McKay said. “It was more engineering and innovation but also had some physics components in it.”

McKay also received the Dr. Margaret E. Nix and Slade C. Nix entrance scholarship to the University of Winnipeg, worth $5,000, where she has already been accepted into the faculty of science for chemistry. She hopes it will lead to medicine.

“(Being an) allergist is something I’ve always wanted to do,” she said of her plans. “I have a peanut and tree nut allergy so I’ve grown up with that environment, going to your doctor and having tests done… when I was young it was really tough for me because I had to give up nuts and peanut butter and even ice-cream and there’s not a whole lot of education out there so hopefully I’ll be able to advocate for anaphylaxis awareness and help younger kids with allergies.”

McKay also plans to minor in human rights, which she says will be useful regardless of which career path she ends up on.

“I’m so honoured, it’s so great to be recognized for the things I do because I do do a lot, and it’s not always noticed, so this is great,” McKay said.

McKay will be heading to the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Montreal later this spring.