University of Lethbridge Calgary Campus student Jennifer Chernishenko (BHS '19) began her uLethbridge journey in 2017 when she applied for the second degree Bachelor of Health Science in Public Health program at the Calgary Campus.
“I chose the Calgary Campus because of its downtown location, the flexible class times and the programs offered. I was able to gain course credits from a previous degree and I’ve really enjoyed almost everything about the Public Health program,” explained Jennifer.
During her program, Jennifer was awarded the 2018 Chinook Summer Research award and had the opportunity to work alongside Dr. Rhiannon MacDonnell Mesler to gain valuable research training experience. “It was a great experience and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in research or furthering their education. It helped me learn about research types, what goes into papers, APA citing, and I got introduced to the academic journal process and meta-analysis, which I got very interested in!” says Jennifer.
It was through this experience that Jennifer knew her time at uLethbridge wasn’t over. “My experience as the research assistant for summer 2018 really excited me to pursue a master’s degree and Dr. MacDonnell Mesler inspired me. She brought up the opportunity of the Canada Graduate Scholarship, and helped me through the process of applying and making a plan.”
Jennifer went on to win the Canada Graduate Scholarship, a master’s degree award from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada to help her undertake the Master’s of Science in Marketing studies with Dr. MacDonnell Mesler.
“Getting the award feels pretty unbelievable. It’s a huge relief to know that funding is coming and also incredible exciting to be chosen,” says Jennifer.
During her master’s degree studies, Jennifer looks to continue what she started as a research student last summer with Dr. MacDonnell Mesler.
“I am hoping to study sport participation in youth. In particular, we wanted to look at mindset (fixed vs. growth) in girls to see if that has any influence on whether kids continue to participate in sport. Body image/self-esteem and other gendered notions may also play into it somewhere. This is somewhat of a continuation from my work last summer with Dr. MacDonnell Mesler where we did a meta-analysis on reasons youth continue/drop out of sport.”