Help Kyla get to Oxford

Our amazing friend Kyla Smith has been accepted to Oxford to do her PhD in physics education. She wants to change how physics is taught so that more girls, and more people in general, study physics. A physicist and a teacher, Kyla has a sincere passion and deep knowledge of her subject.  As a Canadian, she has to contend with international student fees at Oxford, and this makes the opportunity difficult to attain. Kyla comes from a small town in BC where she was fortunate to find teachers that supported her love of science. She wants all girls to have access to opportunities in physics and to have the confidence and encouragement to know that they too can have a life in physics.

I'm starting this campaign because of who Kyla is, and because of all she has done in the brief time that I have known her. While a master's student in physics at the University of Manitoba, she single-handedly took on a project I proposed, and organized an outreach program that brought 2,000 school kids to experience science at the university as a one day field trip. Over the past three years, via this program, she has brought 5000 school kids from across Manitoba to the university for Discover Days. She inspired hundreds of volunteers to give their time, oversaw all details and organization, and orchestrated a flawless experience for the teachers and students. She volunteered her time and expertise, even while writing her thesis, to give these children a chance to come to campus and develop a love of science and education, and she gave our university students an opportunity to give back to their communities and share their knowledge and joy.  This past spring she additionally led Science Rendezvous Winnipeg, a public version of the school day which brought 5,000 people to campus for a day of free science and engineering programming.  Even within her master's research, her work focused on helping people by advancing and redesigning MRI technology to reduce costs and allow more communities to have MRI access. I cannot adequately express my admiration for Kyla.  I have never met anyone so committed, generous, capable, and kind.

When I found out she was accepted to Oxford, I was so excited for her.  She is exactly the right person to take on the challenge of a PhD in this subject, and she is deserving of this opportunity. It was devastating to hear that she would not be able to go because funding sources hadn't come through. When we discovered this, a group of students came together to orchestrate a fundraiser and start this campaign.

So often, when someone needs help, we don't know what to do. This is an enormous challenge, one that will require hundreds of people to help, but we believe that we can do this, because Kyla has shown us that we are capable of more than we know - we just have to try.


Kyla's Background

Kyla grew up in the Rocky Mountains of BC and always wanted to be a teacher. She worked as a waitress and as a Resident Advisor to put herself through two undergraduate degrees at the University of Victoria: a BSc with double majors of physics and English, and a BEd specializing in classroom diversity. As a high school teacher, Kyla taught physics and math at a Canadian offshore school in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and English literature at a Canadian offshore school in Jiaxing, China. She then returned to Canada to do her master's degree at the University of Manitoba, in collaboration with the University of Winnipeg, where she designed a low-field magnet for TRASE MRI. Kyla's MSc was funded by a provincial scholarship, her supervisors' grants, and scholarships from the community foundation in her hometown.

During her MSc, Kyla won the Dean of Graduate Studies Student Achievement Award and placed 2nd in the U of Manitoba's 3-Minute Thesis competition. She won awards for presentations at conferences nationally and internationally. Kyla is on the board of the  Canadian Association of Physicists Foundation, which works to promote physics education in Canada, and she also volunteers her time running coding camps and science outreach events for kids. This year, as mentioned above, Kyla was the primary organizer of Science Rendezvous Winnipeg, and below she is pictured with some of the school field trip guides in 2018. Kyla has been recognized as an Emerging Leader at the U of Manitoba, and her dedication to serving her community is present in everything she does.



What does Oxford cost?

Starting this fall, Kyla's first year tuition and fees at Oxford will be £21,200 GBP, or about $37,000 CAD. Estimated tuition and fees for her subsequent years are: second year £22,472, third year £23,820, and fourth year (a reduced continuation fee) £2,181. This makes the total tuition cost of the PhD £69,673, or about $120,000 CAD. While scholarship funding didn't work out for this year, Kyla plans to apply again next year and hopes to be awarded some funding to help with tuition in future years. 

Living costs are about $20,000 CAD per year in Oxford, and Kyla plans to cover living expenses from savings, student loans, and working part-time throughout her doctoral studies. Doctoral studies are full-time, year-round, and Oxford only allows students in their PhD to work up to 8 hours per week.

In order to start her PhD at the University of Oxford this fall, Kyla has to complete a financial declaration this summer showing that she can pay the first year's tuition and fees.


Summer 2019

Kyla is fortunate to have found Brad, the person she wants to spend her life with. Luckily, he's pretty smitten with her, too! They've been together for 8 years and are very excited to be getting married this summer. Brad is also a physicist and is currently a PhD student in Winnipeg. The couple are getting married in BC and will be keeping the day simple and full of joy.



How will Kyla make a difference with this PhD?

One of the issues with how high school physics is taught is the shortage of qualified physics teachers. The physics teacher shortage, which exists internationally, is being studied in the United Kingdom, but not in Canada. Kyla hopes to gain experience in this area of research at Oxford, and then bring that knowledge back to Canada to study the problem as it exists here and affect change to improve physics education in Canada.


How can you help?

Any donation, no matter the size, is greatly appreciated and will move Kyla towards her goal of attending Oxford. Regardless of whether you are able to donate, helping to spread the word by sharing this campaign on your Facebook, or other social media sites, is a big help and is also really appreciated.

In the event that this campaign raises more than the amount Kyla needs to complete her PhD at Oxford, the remaining funds will be donated to the Columbia Valley Community Foundation (CVCF), a registered charity, to support others from Kyla's hometown on their educational journeys. Kyla received funding from the CVCF during her master's degree and knows first-hand the impact of these scholarships.