Friday, January 11, 2019

Part of a regular series.

Throughout the year, GNACsports.com uses this space to profile conference student-athletes who are members of their respective institutions' Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). In addition to providing feedback on the student-athlete experience, conference and institutional SAAC members also offer input on the rules, regulations and policies that affect student-athletes' lives on NCAA member institution campuses. Click here for more information on the function of SAAC at the NCAA level.

Name: Laura Jones
Sport: Women’s Golf
School: Simon Fraser
Year: Junior
Major: Health Sciences
Hometown: Moncton, New Brunswick

Extracurricular Activities: Golf, SAAC, Athletics Learning Coach, "My Student Support Program" Ambassador, Special Olympics Volunteer and Residence Orientation Volunteer.  I love reading, blasting Great Big Sea music and spending time with friends and family.

Why Did You Choose To Attend Simon Fraser: I chose to attend SFU because the opportunity to compete in the NCAA while receiving a Canadian education seemed like the best of both worlds for me.  Simon Fraser has strong science programs with great research opportunities, and the philosophy of our former coach, John Buchanan, seemed like a great fit. I had always wanted to explore the other side of the country and loved the fact that SFU was surrounded by beautiful scenery on top of Burnaby Mountain, yet only a city bus ride away from downtown Vancouver.

What Is Your Favorite Class You Have Taken In College And Why: My favorite classes would have to be the two directed study courses I did last semester. For one I assessed mental illness burden in various countries of the Americas. For the other I performed electrophysiology research on Dravet syndrome, a form of temperature-dependent epilepsy. Doing these directed study classes gave me the opportunity to apply classroom knowledge to real-life problems, which has been really rewarding and further motivated me in the rest of my courses.

Years Involved In SAAC: Two years. 

The Reason I Chose To Get Involved In SAAC: I wanted to be part of an enthusiastic group of individuals who were seeking to improve our school’s student-athlete experience and impact our local and global community.

Most Memorable SAAC Activity: The first "Clan Bowling" event I attended in my freshman year. A ton of people showed up, and we spent the evening bowling and getting to know each other. It made me realize what an awesome student-athlete community I had entered and it was a really fun event!

What Is The Most Important Thing You’ve Learned From Balancing The Demands Of Athletics and Academics: How to be disciplined and work efficiently while still taking time for myself. I think these skills will help me enormously wherever I end up in life.

What Does It Mean To Be A Division II Student-Athlete: To me being a Division II student-athlete means striving to be the best I can athletically and academically, and having a good balance of the two.

Future Goals After School: I hope to attend medical school and pursue a career in neurology while maintaining balance in my life and pursuing activities that make me happy.

Best Advice I’d Give To An Incoming Freshman: Determine your goals, make a plan to achieve them and cultivate strong habits. I think this discipline is the key to being successful in university and is something many of us unfortunately don't discover (or implement) until later on.

Favorite Athlete: This is a little bit of an unexpected one, but my answer is probably Shawn Johnson, the American gymnast. I (very poorly) did gymnastics for a brief period of my life and fell in love with watching the sport. Shawn is an extremely powerful athlete who was really exciting to watch, and I continue to follow her professional career to this day.

Most Memorable Sports-Related Moment: Playing in our team's first ever Division I event in Portland last year. We played 36 holes consecutively for the first time and came off the course absolutely exhausted, but quickly discovered that we achieved the lowest 18-hole score in SFU women's program history in the first round.  We went on to beat it in the second round. Being surrounded by my teammates and realizing what we had just accomplished was an amazing feeling that I will never forget.