Sophia Boucas will graduate in June with a gold LEAD medallion (PETER MARVAL/University of Windsor)
By Kate Hargreaves
Throughout her UWindsor experience, Sophia Boucas says she tried a little bit of everything, from student clubs to research, co-op and internships.
Now preparing to graduate with her BSc in Kinesiology, Boucas will receive a gold LEAD medallion for her efforts, recognizing her involvement across activities related to Leadership, Engagement, Application and Discovery.
Her involvement began straight out of high school as a first-year Outstanding Scholars student, paired with a student mentor who was working as an athletic therapist with the Windsor Lancers women’s soccer team.
“I didn’t even know that was a thing you could do,” Boucas says. “I asked to go with her, and since that semester, I’ve never left the team. I feel like it was kind of meant to be.”
Boucas ended up interning for three years with the team, building lifelong friendships with the players while gaining hands-on experience in athletic therapy.
Outstanding Scholars also allowed her to get hands-on in the lab with research opportunities supporting the work of both Dr. Dave Andrews and Dr. Matthew Krause.
With Andrews, Boucas worked with Chicago Cubs pitching coaches to help develop teaching materials about mechanisms of injury to the shoulder and elbow.
“I had to draw by hand the ligaments of the elbow,” she says. “It was honestly a lot of fun, and I got to learn a lot about how teaching and learning works. I learned how to tailor lessons to all different educational backgrounds”
In Krause’s lab, she worked on a project using mouse models to explore the effects of exercise on muscle wasting related to cancer.
“Human Kinetics (HK) has so many different types of classes, so you can dip your toes into at least 14 different so many topics, see if you want to do a career in that and decide from there,” Boucas says.
“You don’t have to be dead set right when you enter the program. You can figure it out along the way.”
As a tour guide for incoming first-year students, the president of the Human Kinetics Society and an Outstanding Scholars mentor herself, Boucas shares this advice with other undergraduates in HK.
“I’m always trying to convince people to get involved in things. It’s so worth it to get the most out of your degree,” she says.
“You’re not just here to go to school. You are here for the full student experience. Socialize, go do research, get a job at the school. There’s so much you can do with your education while you’re in school. You don’t have to wait until after your degree is done to get a job in the field.”
With convocation approaching, Boucas says that she’s happy to be graduating but also a little bit sad to be moving on.
“I’m just getting my feet on the ground. Let me stay a bit longer,” she laughs. “But at the same time, I’m excited to start new things and keep moving along on my journey.”
Putting her varied and hands-on learning experiences to work, Boucas is hoping to pursue graduate school in physiotherapy and eventually specialize in treating sports injuries.
“I want to get a full-time job. I want to start working, but I also want to keep learning,” she says.