Lauren Caters is a 2018 Canada Student Merit Award winner. She achieved this award for obtaining the highest standing of her class in the fourth and final year of her degree. Here is a brief biography of the winner.
Lauren is completing her Honours degree in Chemistry with a Minor in Economics at the University of Victoria and is honoured to have received the UVic 2018 SCI Student Merit Award.
Lauren is passionate about environmental change and was thrilled to have received a Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Award to support her research in Dr. Dennis Hore’s research lab on the interaction between ocean microplastics and organic pollutants.
In addition to her dedication to academics, Lauren is passionate about supporting her local and global communities. Currently, she is a committed volunteer at both the Victoria Therapeutic Riding Association and the Island Sexual Health Society. Lauren also serves as the President of the UVic Chapter of the Golden Key International Society, where she enjoys organizing leadership and service opportunities for UVic members. In this role she mentors younger students in the hopes of fostering a similar passion for community service, and plays an active role in running local fundraising events for non-profit organizations such as the Victoria Youth Clinic, Island Sexual Health Society and the Victoria Brain Injury Society. In addition to her local contributions, Lauren has traveled on two life changing service trips to Chacala, Mexico and Iringa, Tanzania where she helped to build homes for local families in-need and shadowed doctors in the local hospital. These diverse experiences have inspired her to pursue a career in healthcare and she hopes to attend medical school in the near future.
Lauren has received numerous awards over the years for her dedication to academics and community service including most recently the Martin and Diana Hocking Scholarship in Chemistry, Edythe Hemroff-Schleicher Scholarship and Hugh & Lilian Salmond Scholarship in Chemistry of the Environment.
Lauren CatersUniversity of Victoria
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