After graduating in 2022, if someone had told St. Thomas University alum Flo Awde that she would go to Arizona State University, Johns Hopkins University, become a practicum student at Harvard and move to Geneva, Switzerland to intern for UNICEF, she would not have believed it.
But this is Awde’s reality — a path that some can only dream of. While many would think her journey was difficult – and surely it was tough work – Awde has the undeniable nature of Elle Woods in Legally Blond saying “What? Like it’s hard?” after getting into Harvard Law.
And it all started at STU, where she began her academic career as a student athlete.
“To be transparent, I really just wanted to go to university to play hockey,” she said. “I always lacked academic confidence. I just kind of saw myself as a hockey player that went to school.”
And play hockey she did: during her first year, her team won STU’s first AUS championship against rival St. Francis Xavier University. She recalled being on the ice face to face with the top STFX players when the buzzer rang and the team was officially named champs.
“I just remember thinking, ‘I cannot let these people get by me.’ And I was this little 18 year old,” she said. “It was just electric … it was just really a special thing to be a part of.”
However, Awde quickly proved herself as more than just a hockey player. Aside from playing on the STU women’s hockey team, she also was on the athletic council, worked at the IT Help Desk and at the local climbing gym. Most notably, she discovered her passion for academics.
After simply taking classes that ‘sounded interesting’ for her first two years, Awde ended up double majoring in psychology and history, with a minor in Spanish and Latin American studies.
“I remember I just went into the academic office and asked them, ‘what do I do with all these classes?’ And I realized that I was set up to do a double major,” she said.
It was in her pursuit of her Spanish minor that she encountered a professor that became her mentor, Mary Lou Babineau, who Awde said she still connects with all the time.
If it wasn’t for Babineau, Awde may never have gone to Arizona State University for grad school. The professor encouraged her to apply and helped her through the process, which Awde appreciated as a first generation grad student.
“I literally went to Arizona State because I saw her little key chain that said ‘ASU’ on it in my first year at STU and I just asked her about it, which ended up being one of the best decisions of my life.”
It was nearly two in the morning the night before a playoff game when Awde received the good news.
“I got up in the middle of the night to go to the washroom,” she said. “And I had an email that just said ‘congratulations, you’re in.’ I was literally jumping up and down in my room alone, screaming.”
And so, Awde was off to Arizona to pursue a Master of Advanced Studies in Transborder Studies, with a focus on childhood cancer on the U.S.-Mexico Border.
Although she was already sold once she learned ASU had a hockey team, it was the uniqueness of the transborder studies program, which was a perfect mix of her passion for Spanish, history and psychology, that sealed the deal.
“Learning about those disparities in healthcare that exist in Central America and Mexico and the U.S. South through a class is interesting, but having the opportunity to be in closer proximity to the border abroad was something that really intrigued me,” she said.
Living in the heart of Arizona was a highlight of her experience, with easy access to places like San Diego and attending ASU football games. She also played on the ASU hockey team and parallel to her STU hockey experience, she won the school’s first championship in her first year, scoring the game winning goal in her 100th career game.
On the academics side, she decided to double up her courses, turn the two-year program into a one-year masters and graduate early. She also decided to pursue a PhD, however got deferred by Columbia and Johns Hopkins to their masters program, so she said ‘why not?’ and is currently pursuing a second masters degree: a Master of Science in Public Health, Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.
“My first year at Hopkins, I will not lie, was extremely challenging,” she said. “A lot of people in my classes are already surgeons or doctors or leaders in their country and just having the chance to learn so much from classmates … is one of my favourite things.”
Aside from attending Hopkins, Awde is a practicum student at Harvard. She presents with them across the country, at places like George Washington University, the Canadian Medical Physicist Annual comp and Browns Massachusetts General Hospital.
How did she get involved? She just googled ‘Harvard.’
“I saw they had this project and literally if you described all my passions on one page, this is it.”
It is this attitude that gives her the Elle Woods reputation: on one of her hockey teams, she was chosen to win the ‘Miss Elle Woods Award’ by her teammates.
Since Awde wants to pursue a PhD at an Ivy league, she is not complaining about the comparison
“I love her and she went to Harvard, so hopefully I get that energy.”
Until her PhD journey starts, her current adventure is doing an internship with UNICEF ECARO in the Early Childhood Development Division. She moves to Geneva, Switzerland after the new year.
From a hockey player that lacked academic confidence, to pursuing a PhD and interning at UNICEF, Awde’s advice for students is to just try, even if they think it’s out of reach.
“The [grad school] application process is definitely a little exhausting, but I always just say, ‘you have to shoot your shot.’ The worst thing they can say is no.”
