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By Valerie Shore
Rempel
It may seem like déjà vu all over again for Philip Rempel at his June 5 convocation ceremony.
In June 2005 Rempel earned a Bachelor of Music degree and the Victoria Medal as the top undergraduate in the Faculty of Fine Arts. Now he’s back to claim a second undergraduate degree and another medal—this time as the top student in the Faculty of Science.
Both medals caught the Victoria native by surprise. “The first time I didn’t know they gave medals out,” he says. “This time, I didn’t know how well I’d done compared to other people, although I was kind of wondering.”
Rempel graduates this month with a BSc in mathematics, the Jubilee Medal in Science, and a GPA of 8.90. A perfect GPA is 9.0.
“I’ve always enjoyed doing math, but it’s nice to have something artistic to do as well,” said Rempel in 2005. If anything, that dual passion for music and math has intensified over the last two years. He still can’t decide which one to pursue as a career.
“My original plan was to teach math at a college,” says Rempel, who started off in music to satisfy a lifelong interest in percussion instruments, notably the snare drum, marimba and timpani. “I enjoyed it so much I decided to finish the degree.”
Math was never far away, though. He took most of his first- and second-year math courses while completing the music degree. How do the two subjects compare? “With math, you can study but there comes a point where you feel you know it pretty well,” he says. “With music, you’re never really finished. There’s always more you can do.”
A third degree, a master’s, is most likely in Rempel’s future. But will it be in music or math? Rempel plans to get a job until he figures it out. “I love both so it’s not as though I would feel stuck if I picked the wrong one,” he grins. “It’s just something I want to think about before I take the next step.”
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