At 16 years old, Sophie Poinar already knows she wants to be a lawyer.

It only took two years of volunteering in a neuroscience lab to figure that out.

Since 2012, the Westdale Secondary School student has been helping out in McMaster’s Bennett/Sekuler Vision & Cognitive Neuroscience Lab. She first visited the innovative research space as part of the annual Take Our Kids to Work Day, and hasn’t left since.

“I’m fascinated with the mind, and I love studying people’s behaviour and how we work,” said Sophie. “I know that I want to study psychology at university, and relate that to practicing law.”

Every other week during the school year, Sophie meets with research coordinator Donna Waxman and helps conduct experiments involving motion perception, aging and vision, perceptual learning and facial recognition.

Even with a busy schedule involving dance lessons, piano, singing and a part-time job, Sophie says she wouldn’t dream of missing a session on campus.

“Studying in the lab at McMaster has really helped me stay ahead of the curve in school,” she explained. “I’ve been able to narrow my focus and find my own path in life.”

The latter is especially important, given her family’s extraordinary history in scientific research.

Sophie’s father is McMaster researcher and evolutionary geneticist Hendrik Poinar — famous for leading the team that sequenced the genome of the Black Death, one of the most devastating epidemics in history.

Her grandfather, George Poinar Jr., was a global pioneer in the practice of studying insects fossilized in amber with the hope of extracting their DNA — a concept that was used as the basis for the novel and film series, Jurassic Park.

For Hendrik Poinar, watching his daughter develop her own passion has been a great joy.

“I’m incredibly proud of Sophie, and I’m glad she’s found a new career interest through her involvement in the Bennett/Sekuler lab,” said Poinar. “Take Our Kids to Work Day is a fantastic opportunity for any student to learn and grow.”

During the past two decades, more than 200,000 Grade 9 students and 75,000 businesses and organizations from coast to coast have participated in Take Our Kids to Work day. The annual event highlights the importance of education, community engagement and experiential learning, while providing students with a chance to try their hand at something new.

This year’s Take Our Kids to Work Day will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 5. Registration is now open.

Please note that all registrations at McMaster will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. All questions and comments can be directed to toktwd@mcmaster.ca.

Below, left to right: Patrick Bennett, Allison Sekuler, Sophie Poinar, Donna Waxman and Hendrik Poinar. Sophie is wearing a 256-channel hydrocel geodesic censor net, used for measuring brain waves while viewing visual stimuli.