Posted May 30: Straight 12s earns drama student Governor General’s medal
[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Zdriluk.jpg” caption=”Beth Zdriluk”]She has received straight 12s in all four years of study at McMaster. This distinction has earned Beth Zdriluk the Governor General's Academic Medal this year, making her the top McMaster undergraduate student.
A McMaster Scholar, Zdriluk graduates from the Faculty of Humanities on June 5 with a combined honours BA in drama and psychology. Her academic record is impressive. She had held numerous awards and scholarships: H. L. Hooker Entrance Award, Amelia Hall Scholarship, University Scholarship, Sears Canada Scholarship, Dofasco Scholarship, Drama Book Prize, and the Eleanor Dornbush Marples Prize in Drama.
She will study for her PhD at the University of Toronto this fall. “I applied for their MA program, but then was offered to go straight into their PhD program,” she says. Although unsure now of what she will study, Zdriluk is interested in Canadian theatre.
Her scholarship is complemented by a host of volunteer and community
activities. She has been a volunteer in both drama and mathematics for high school students in Burlington for several years. She has worked with students to help develop their natural talents in performance, design, music and theatre, recently serving as co-director and musical director of the student production, Godspell.
She has lectured to high school students on the Canadian, Greek and
Elizabethan theatre as well as several of the major theatrical styles and movements of the 19th and 20th centuries.
She plans to continue her work with high school students after graduation, assisting with drama studies and providing some tutoring.
Since June 1995 Zdriluk has been heavily involved in the Centre Stage
Productions Community Theatre Group. In May 2000 she travelled to Nova
Scotia as a performer in a show chosen to represent all of Ontario at the Liverpool International Theatre Festival.
She has also been a member of the Sears Drama Festival Organizational Team in Halton since 1993. She is also a member of the Front of House Crew. Her work has covered all facets of the theatre industry. She was costume designer for the fall 2000 production at McMaster of Pericles, Prince of Tyre. She has served as both a performer and designer for Centre Stage and earned awards for performance, set design and vocal arrangement at the Sears Drama Festival (1994-98).
At McMaster she has been a TA for Drama 1AA3, worked as a research assistant on a study of Victorian Hamilton and been a volunteer for patients in Ward 3A at Hamilton Health Sciences. She is a member of the Golden Key International Honours Society.
In addition to the Governor General's medal she also receives the Amelia Hall Gold Medal and the Dean's Medal for Excellence in the Humanities.
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