AU’s flexibility key to success for three-time Olympian

It’s been great, because I think that’s how I learn best. It’s just giving me the coursework, letting me kind of fully manage my studies.

Because I was so focused on sport, I didn’t do well in high school. From 2013 to 2015 I had to redo high school through Bow Valley College where you go to a classroom, there’s a couple teachers for each subject and you kind of just learn on your own. I was super good at that.

Way back when I was younger, I was put into a special-needs class because I was falling behind in class. I ended up catching up several math levels in one year and [was] back into normal stream within a year, because I was learning on my own. That is how I learn best.

I got into the University of Alberta engineering program, but then when I got there it’s like, I didn’t get anything. The whole university experience is like, “what is this?” It’s like going from controlling everything to everything being controlled, and then there’s millions of kids everywhere. It’s just so much distraction. I found it hard to grasp anything.

After two years at the U of A, I was like “I’m done with school. I’m going back to sport.” I ended up looking, going online, Googling, and stumbled upon AU. I’m like “okay, this makes sense again. I control what I do, I understand what’s going on. I work on my own pace.” There’re some days all you want to do is just focus on studying. I’ll just be studying for like 10 hours a day, and there are other days when I don’t want to do anything. I can do what I want to do.

Turns out online learning is how I learn best and the only way I could continue sport and do any kind of education.

I’ve always been good with math, numbers, and problem-solving so, I just figured, why not try accounting? My head was still really in sport, but I knew that I needed to take care of life after sports.

The most memorable moment was watching an Olympic event in 2008. Watching Usain Bolt break the world record the way he did. No one’s ever done it like he’s done. He won with so much ease, it’s just fun to watch.

I feel like school kind of helped bridge the gap, it helped transition away. In sports you’re extremely focused on one thing. Your goal-setting to do all these things. Your days are super structured. School, especially online learning, has to be that way as well because you have to make sure you keep on top of things. You have to make sure you have a weekly, monthly, yearly plan. So, it kind of helped me deal with that.

I think a lot of athletes, they kind of leave sport and lack purpose or they kind of miss that structure, that goal-orientated mindset. School fulfilled that completely.

Being structured and having goals and being consistent with what you’re doing. Being able to focus all your energy on one thing when you need to and being mindful when you need to switch focus.

More school. I’m finishing up my last assignment to get into the CPA program.

Choose AU. It worked for me because you can completely control what you’re doing. A lot of the skills I already have from sport transfer over.