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Gurbir Dhadwal was born in a small town and he plans to live and work in a small town, ideally as a small-town family doctor.

"It’s so much different than living in the city," says the SFU student from Golden, B.C. (population 4,300), who has won the Governor General’s silver medal in science.

Golden secondary school "had only 500 students and I remember at my first SFU class there were almost as many students in one room. It was pretty overwhelming."

All his friends at university are from small towns too, says Dhadwal, who lived in residence. "Almost everyone living there is from smaller communities. They have similar life experiences, the same culture shock at being in the city and they know what you’re going through, so there is a natural attraction."

There’s nothing small about Dhadwal’s academic qualifications, however, with a 4.24 cumulative grade point average out of a possible 4.33 and 14 awards and scholarships to his credit so far. And unlike many biological sciences majors, he took a number of elective arts courses including philosophy and linguistics.

Still, he says, "my academic experience was almost secondary to my social activities," which included intramural volleyball and the biology student union. But his abiding passion was the Golden Key international honour society.

The society, with more than 2,000 members on campus, "was a perfect blend of community service and social events," says Dhadwal, who travelled to the organization’s international convention last year in Chicago as president of the SFU chapter.

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