Kika Otiono, Undergraduate Student, Carleton University

The first time I read an entire book in a single day was in grade five. I still remember the warm feeling I got from stepping into a story and experiencing the adventures with my favourite characters. As I grew older, I naturally gravitated towards the liberal arts—curious to find out how the human spirit could be captured in art, music, philosophy, and literature. However, I discovered my love for science in my grade eleven physics class. It was in that classroom that I discovered the beauty of scientific discovery and experimentation, and I decided I wanted to do something in science and medicine for the rest of my life.

Kika Otiono

The duality between arts and science is something that has become a large part of my life. As an undergraduate student in Humanities and Biology at Carleton University, I spend most of my free time explaining my program. Most people are perplexed that I would choose such parallel disciplines or wonder why I would torture myself with both arts and science. But in grade twelve, after applying for biomedical science, neuroscience, and biology programs, I discovered the combined honours program at Carleton in Humanities and Biology. I would be tasked with reading some of the greatest works of Western civilization over four years, including Dante, St. Augustine, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Plato, Thomas Aquinas, and so much more. Simultaneously, I would gain knowledge in biology and chemistry. It was a dream come true!