A new interview at the Victoria University website profiles Atang Peloewetse, Chemistry Student Union member and 2024 U of T graduate with an honours bachelor of science. Atang was awarded the David H. Farrar Undergraduate Scholarship in Chemistry at the Department's recent award ceremony, and is now going on to the University of California, Berkeley to attend graduate school.
When Atang Peloewetse started his classes at U of T, he did so from 13,056 kilometres away, according to the profile.
Starting U of T in the fall of 2020 in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Peloewetse began his studies in chemistry from his hometown of Gaborone, Botswana.
It wasn’t an easy first semester—taking his courses online was a challenge, especially with a time change of six hours, which forced him to attend classes late at night.
“I was taking classes at eight, sometimes midnight, if they were six o'clock lectures in Toronto,” he says. “I needed to readjust and change how I studied.”
The Victoria University article explores Peloewetse's arrival on campus after the pandemic lockdown, his photographic art, and his shift of focus from neuroscience and medicine to organic chemistry.
Read the full article at Victoria University.
It was incredibly important for me to find the space and a community regardless of race, gender, creed, sexual orientation, where we felt welcomed, accepted and accommodated.
-Atang Peloewetse, speaking about the Chemistry Student Union