Health sciences leading Edison student east

A fascination with science and biology is leading an Edison School graduand to a future in medicine, but not necessarily as a doctor.

Kyle Kreis is preparing for a future in the medical field and will attend University of Western Ontario (UWO)in London, Ont. to study health sciences.

“With health sciences I could do pretty much anything I wanted in the medical field because it gives me such a wide variety of classes,” he said. “I could go into research, I could go in to pharmaceutical, management or medicine. I’d have so many options with it.”

If Kreis could have his dream job, it would be working for Doctors Without Borders, or a similar medical NGO working in developing countries.

Still, the program at UWO offers a broad range of studies, he said, that will help him decide and benefit him in whatever he ends up doing.

He’s fascinated by the sciences, particularly biology. Kreis said it’s an interesting subject because new discoveries are being made all the time.

“There’s so many things that we don’t know, basic functions that we do everyday, we still don’t know how they work and I’d really like to get into some of that,” he said. “Honestly, I just find it very interesting to learn about those things and have the ability to help people.”

Kreis likes the precision of the sciences. They’re his best subjects.

Kreis finished Chemistry 30 a year early in Grade 11 with a 93 per cent grade and he said he could finish Biology 30 with a grade somewhere in the mid 90 percent range.

“Biology is like here’s the answer, this is how it works and I found that I was just better at remembering things like that that have an order to it, like how the body works,” he said. “Also, I just find it very interesting.

“It amazes me how quickly things happen in our body, just basic functions – how it’s so complex but can happen so seamlessly and effortlessly.”

Academics attracted Kreis to Edison School, so did the school’s storied badminton team.

“Grade 9 was when I really started to push for badminton,” he said. “I started entering in provincial tournaments, not just our school tournaments.”

This year, Kreis and his partner brought home gold medals from the badminton provincial tournament. He is also a coach at Edison.

He’s competed in a number of sports over the years, such as hockey, lacrosse and rugby, but he enjoys the more solo nature of badminton.

“What I love about badminton is I can focus a lot on myself, which is something I struggle with – self reflection and stuff like that,” he said. “Badminton, because it can be a single player sport, I really enjoy that it was not necessarily team growth, but self growth.”

He loves the fast pace on the court and technique the sport requires.

Kreis had the opportunity to discover his mettle as a leader, both as a coach and during an ill-fated canoe trip this year. The students faced a storm on the final night and the situation was looking dire for the group the next morning.

“The situation seemed okay in the morning but it turned bad pretty quick, and not just that people were uncomfortable,” he said.

“People were on the edge of hypothermia and stopped shivering they were so cold.”

Working with trip guides and teachers, Kreis walked into the water to get the canoes ready to launch, helped organize dry clothes and to get warm soup made up on the only working stove they had.

It was a hard trip, but Kreis said he learned what he was capable of.

“It was something I’m quite proud of because I took a leadership role in that situation and I think I really helped some of the kids there,” he said.