Barrington High School grad moves on from Yale to Harvard – Barrington Courier

 

BY BRIDGET O’SHEA | boshea@pioneerlocal.com

July 3, 2013 11:08AM

Mary Elizabeth Kubiuk, a 2009 Barrington High School graduate, received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology degree with distinction May 20 during Yale University’s 312th commencement ceremony. | Photo submitted


Updated: July 3, 2013 11:10AM

BARRINGTON — Barrington native Mary Elizabeth Kubiuk is putting together quite a resume.

The 2009 Barrington High School graduate received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology degree with distinction May 20 during Yale University’s 312th commencement ceremony. This fall, Kubiuk will be attending Harvard Law School.

During her time at Yale, Kubiuk was a four-year member of the soccer team, a leader in the school’s Athletes in Action organization and an Academic All-Ivy selection. In the classroom, she studied the psychology of capuchin monkeys.

Q: What was your experience like at Yale?

A: It was pretty awesome. I liked it a lot. The people were really nice and the campus was beautiful. It’s hard to describe but it’s kind of like a family. People ask me what my favorite class was and I can’t say because all my classes and professors were great. I was also on the soccer team.

Q: How did you choose Yale?

A: I wanted to go to the best academic school I could go to and still play soccer.

Q: How did you become interested in psychology?

A: I took lots of different courses at first because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Then I was drawn to a course I took in psychology. It seemed really applicable to real life to study thought processes and the way people act. It seemed really applicable to the real world.

Q: How was the adjustment from Barrington to an Ivy League school?

A: It was challenging but I think I was well prepared for it because of my education in Barrington. It was a pretty smooth transition.

Q: Were you the only BHS graduate in your class to attend Yale?

A: There was one boy from my graduating class who went to Yale. There were also two others from another class who went from BHS to Yale. All four of us were in school together at Hough Street Elementary and then we all ended up taking a class together at Yale.

Q: You said you took lots of great classes. What is one that stands out?

A: One of my favorite classes was called Brain and Thought. It was about how we take in information and process it. I actually got to hold a human brain that the professor brought in. We learned about all kinds of different thought processes. There are so many things we do, like speaking, that we don’t even think about, but there’s so much going on in the brain when we do those things. It’s really quite amazing.

Q: Besides soccer, were you involved in any other extracurricular activities at Yale?

A: I was involved in the Athletes in Action, which is a Christian soccer group. I was also involved in a group that collected leftover bread from the dining hall and took it to halfway houses and distributed it. My friend started an organization called Say Yes to Soccer, which was a youth mentoring program. I also worked in a lab with capuchin monkeys. We studied their thought processes and it was great to apply what I learned in the classroom to my lab work.

Q: How did it feel to graduate?

A: It was kind of bittersweet. I will miss it for sure. I’m going to law school at Harvard next year, so I’m pretty excited about that.

Q: Why did you choose Harvard?

A: I applied to a bunch of law schools last fall. I got an interview at Harvard and they accepted me over Thanksgiving.

Q: Do you have any big plans for the summer?

A: Nothing major is planned, but I am taking a trip out east with my brother so he can look at colleges.~.

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