Sullivan Award winner finds her passion in international service
Posted on: April 14, 2020; Updated on: April 14, 2020
By Page Ivey, pivey@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-3085
While earning her bachelor’s degree in experimental psychology and participating in research, including a neuroscience project at the university’s Institute for Mind and Brain, Sophia Bertrand, also managed a 3.9 GPA while squeezing in a study abroad experience every year of her college career.
She is one of two graduating seniors to receive the university's highest undergraduate honor, the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, given each year for outstanding achievements, campus leadership, exemplary character and service to the community. The award is named for the 19th-century New York lawyer and philanthropist.
In addition to her neuroscience project, Bertrand, who came to South Carolina as a Capstone Scholar from Roswell, Georgia, has received the Magellan Apprentice and Mini-Grants to conduct her own research evaluating the development of “Theory of Mind” — the ability to see someone else’s perspective and relate to them emotionally — in hearing-impaired children. She conducted her research at the Hearts for Hearing Institute in Oklahoma and presented her results at Discovery Day 2018.
But it is in study and service abroad that she has found her calling.
“I studied abroad every year at USC because I have a deep appreciation for understanding different cultures,” Bertrand says. “This widened my perspective and my coursework began to translate to service abroad because service is a lifestyle that I live by.”
She received the Excellence in Service-Learning Award from the UofSC Leadership and Service Center this past fall in recognition of her extensive service projects both locally and internationally.
She has participated in UofSC medical service-learning trips to Nicaragua and Guatemala and a public health intervention in Costa Rica. In the U.S., Bertrand has participated in programs to feed the homeless in Columbia and Atlanta and was a math and English tutor for Gamecocks Aiding Refugees in Columbia.
Also during her time at South Carolina, she has helped connect the university community with the international service organization Rotary. She even established a mentor program that connects students with Rotarians.
“The goal is to give students the opportunity to network and find mentors in their fields of study, in support of their professional development and success after graduation,” Bertrand says.
Bertrand, who also is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, is planning a career in health care and would like to work outside the U.S.
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