Global Courant
Anthaea-Grace Patricia Dennis is not your typical 12-year-old.
She is a child prodigy and is about to be the youngest Canadian ever to graduate from university.
On Saturday, Patricia Dennis will walk the stage at the University of Ottawa in her gown, accepting a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences.
She started the program when she was nine, at a time when most of her peers played games during recess.
So how does this child prodigy feel about the big day?
“I’m going to be proud. I’m going to hope I don’t fall off the podium,” said Patricia Dennis in an interview.
“I’m also going to be happy for myself, not just for other people. I’m proud of myself for getting to this point, despite all the hurdles and blocks that have been there for someone like me.”
Perhaps no one will be prouder or more excited than her biggest supporter, her mother Johanna Dennis.
Dennis said she realized her daughter was special when she was about two and a half years old. She’s felt this way ever since.
The pair have a close bond.
Dennis was a single mother while building her own academic career. After completing a number of degrees, she is now a law professor and has played an important role in her daughter’s education.
“I feel like part of the reason I go to the convocation and walk across the stage for her own benefit is to say, ‘Thanks for being there for me.’ I think that’s the main purpose of graduation in the first place’, says Patricia Dennis.
“She’s always there for me when I need her.”
Being a preteen in an intensive college program presents a unique set of challenges. Patricia Dennis has had to deal with people’s preconceptions and expectations about how she will look, talk and act based on her age.
“My advice for people who are also young, gifted, smart, talented – don’t let other people’s expectations get you down,” she said.
“That’s been a big obstacle for me everywhere I go.”
She also wants to inspire other intelligent and ambitious children.
“I’m very motivated by the fact that I can be the first (to do something). You know, being able to show other young, gifted and talented people that something like this is possible, that you can get through these roadblocks has always been something that I’ve always wanted to do,” she said.
The highlight of her university career to date has been completing a 40-page dissertation on the relationship between functional activity in the cerebellum — the part of the brain responsible for coordinating balance and movement — and dexterity.
The paper concluded that connectivity between the brain and the hand is significantly different for right-handed people than for left-handed people.
After about a year of research on the topic, Patricia Dennis presented her findings at the Ottawa-Carleton Institute of Biology Symposium.
“I can now call myself a researcher,” she said. “There are people who take an interest in what I do, and I feel like the master of the cerebellum.”
When she’s not researching or writing about the brain, Patricia Dennis is a “very good” violinist, her mother said.
She also enjoys playing with her cats and binge-watching TV shows with her family.
After a well-deserved break from her studies during the summer, Patricia Dennis is pursuing further education.
Her top three candidates are McGill University, the University of Toronto and the Illinois Institute of Technology, and she is interested in continuing her research on functional activity in the cerebellum.
“I’ll probably pick it up again when I have my own lab, and I can get people to do it with me too, because I’m in charge,” she said.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 9, 2023.
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This story was produced with the financial support of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
