Nice to meet you!
My name is Amy Vergouwen. I am a 4th year student at UBC’s Okanagan campus in the beautiful city of Kelowna, originally from a town outside of Calgary. I am a Bachelor of Arts student, majoring in psychology. I have a few main interests within my degree; I am fascinated by the world of forensic psychology, psychopathy, dark triad and everything in between, but I find myself drawn to wanting to help others in the world of health psychology. I work at a long term care facility with individuals with dementia while I am at school, and I thoroughly enjoy my job. I work in recreation therapy and could see myself continuing a career working with the older population, specifically in dementia research as that is what I am particularly interested in.
Although my degree is in psychology and I would love to pursue a career in something related, I am also highly interested in sustainability. I worked at a renewable energy company back home in Alberta this summer, and, although it doesn’t coincide much with my major, I would consider myself to be passionate in terms of renewables, sustainability and clean technology to aid in the deceleration of climate change. Within my degree, I have taken a few environmental science classes which really sparked my interest, thus, leading to me pursuing employment at a clean energy company. The company I worked for uses green technology to reduce carbon emissions in Canada. I worked as a marketing & finance assistant, mainly doing ROI analysis for our inside sales team selling CHP (combined heat and power) units to large agricultural corporations and farms.
As this is my final year of school, I see myself continuing my job in renewable energy after graduation, and then pursuing a Bachelor of Therapeutic Recreation after a small break from academia. I would love to find a way to combine my academic, professional and personal interests.
When I am not at school, at work, or volunteering, you can find me riding my horse Wesley. He is a thoroughbred and used to be a racehorse! I have had him for over 10 years and he is a huge part of my life. I also love to golf, read psychological thriller novels, and spend time with my family and friends. It’s great to meet you!