Meet Caitlyn Kukulowicz

A competitive figure skater, Caitlyn loves a challenge. “One of the things that draws me to figure skating is that there’s always a bigger challenge you can tackle—a bigger jump you can do.”

As she sets off to Harvard University in the fall, Caitlyn is bringing her skates with her, along with the intellectual curiosity and love for learning she developed at Branksome Hall.

Planning to pursue her long-standing dream to become a surgeon by taking pre-med courses, she is also inspired to bridge her medical pursuits with politics, noting how the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the links between health care and politics.

Making interdisciplinary connections is not new for Caitlyn. At Branksome, she deepened her passion for skating by delving into the physics behind rotational dynamics and combination jumps and conducting kinesiology experiments on which warm up routine correlated with successful on-ice performance. A member of the Branksome Athletics Council in grade 12, Caitlyn was on the track and cross-country teams and helped launch an athletics newsletter. At Harvard, she hopes to help start a junior varsity skating club.

“Branksome really sparked my love for learning,” she says. “I had so much fun building these connections between the classroom and my life on the ice.” 

She also learned the importance of community, which was especially meaningful when she lost her mom to endometrial cancer in 2020. Wanting to do something to raise awareness and research funding for the disease, Caitlyn launched the “Lace Up for Liz” charity run/walk with support from her Branksome community. So far, she has raised almost $130,000 toward research at the Princess Margaret Cancer Center. 

“Branksome itself is similar to figure skating and physics—you’re given a lot of tools and support and huge challenges, until you take off. It helps you launch.”