Meet Our Students: Celebrating Success Stories | Grace Achonu-Johnson

For Achonu-Johnson, the appeal of PPE was its ability to bring together three areas of study she was passionate about while offering a distinctly interdisciplinary education. What stood out most was the opportunity to develop both quantitative and qualitative skills—learning to approach complex social and economic questions from different perspectives.

That interdisciplinary foundation has extended well beyond the classroom. For the past two years, Achonu-Johnson has been a student researcher with the Leadership and Democracy Lab, a student-driven research group that examines current economic and political risks facing businesses and explores strategies to address them. Through the Lab, she has investigated timely issues such as clean energy and tariffs, applying concepts from her PPE courses to real-world case studies involving Canadian businesses.

“It has been very rewarding to apply the academic research and writing skills I’ve developed in my classes, as well as course content from my PPE lectures, to these research projects,” she says.

Her academic experience has also helped her begin answering an important question: where might her education take her after graduation?

With an interest in pursuing a career in finance, Achonu-Johnson has used summer internships as opportunities to explore different areas of the industry. Her experiences have included sales at Dexterra, asset management at Scotia Global Asset Management and banking at BDC. Rather than simply confirming one career path, each experience has helped her better understand her strengths, interests and professional goals.

The internships have also allowed her to build a professional network while developing both technical and interpersonal skills in professional environments. “I’ve been able to hone in on what career paths interest me the most and which would be a good fit for my skillset through my internships,” she says.

At Western, Achonu-Johnson has complemented her academic and professional development with a broad range of extracurricular experiences. She has held roles with the Leadership and Democracy Lab, USC Charity, the Social Science Students’ Council and Emerald Advisors. Each organization has offered something different—from leadership and advocacy to philanthropy and collaborative project work.

For Achonu-Johnson, however, the greatest reward has been the people she has met along the way.

“I’ve made great friends through these clubs, gained leadership experience, and been able to make a positive impact by contributing to philanthropic and advocacy initiatives,” she says. Working with peers to bring projects, events and campaigns to life has become one of her favourite parts of the Western experience.

That sense of connection is especially evident within PPE, where the small size of the program has created a close-knit community. Students share resources, work through difficult concepts together and review each other’s projects. For Achonu-Johnson, asking a classmate for help—or offering it in return—is simply part of the culture.

“We go to each other with questions without a second thought,” she says, adding that the same spirit of support extends throughout the Faculty of Social Science.

As she looks toward her final year, Achonu-Johnson’s experience has reinforced the importance of something that extends beyond academics: relationships.

Her advice to students considering the Faculty of Social Science is simple—show up, reach out and build connections.

“By showing up, reaching out, and actively building connections, you’ll gain access to so many opportunities that you wouldn’t have even known about otherwise.”