By Terry Cronin
This story first appeared in Vital Signs, a publication of Northeastern University Bouvé College of Health Sciences.
To learn more about Bouvé College, visit www.northeastern.edu/bouve.

Two-thousand twelve was a banner year for athletics at Northeastern. The women's hockey team garnered the most wins in ten years, winning the Hockey East Regular Season Championship and the Beanpot Championship, and the men's soccer team won the CAA Championship for the first time ever. In addition, many individual players and coaches from a range of teams distinguished themselves with an impressive array of honors, awards and accomplishments, including Northeastern's Athletic Director Peter Roby's appointment to the NCAA Division I men's basketball committee. Nowhere is the importance of physical well-being more understood than at Bouvé College, where students are dedicated to improving human health and health care delivery. “The six athletes featured in this issue reflect the passion and excellence that goes with world class athletics and the obvious connection to health and exceptional health science academics,” says Bouvé Dean Terry Fulmer.

Growing up on a farm in Southwestern Ontario, Deanna Kerkhof, '13, has been playing basketball since the third grade. She's played for a number of different teams in Canada and the U.S. and was a member of the U15 Team Ontario that won the gold at the Canadian Nationals. Deanna chose Northeastern for its combination of location, academics, and athletics. “I wanted to step out of my comfort zone...and experience the city.” Over the past few years, the Northeastern women's basketball team has become a contender in the CAA and Deanna has been no small part of that transformation. This year she was picked as one of three captains of the team. Hoping to pursue a career in medicine, Deanna, a Health Sciences major, has consistently made the Dean's List and won many honors and awards for excellence in both academics and athletics, including the CAA Commissioner's List (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013), Northeastern Women's Basketball Scholar Athlete (2011–2012), and the Jeanne L. Rowlands Award (2010–2011, 2012–2013).

Award-winning cross country and track and field athlete, as well as consistent Dean's List nursing student, Meegan Joly, '13, hits the ground running every day — literally. Having been offered an NCAA Division I Cross Country and Track Scholarship, Meegan chose Northeastern because of the emphasis its athletic department places on balancing one's athletic and academic careers, its urban location, its co-op program, and its accessibility to some of the country's top medical institutions. As a nursing student, Meegan has completed three co-ops at Mass. General Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center — with her most memorable being a co-op at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at BIDMC. “Co-ops are key,” explains Meegan. “My co-op experiences have helped solidify my career choice and given me more clinical practice than any other nursing program could offer.” She attributes her academic success in the nursing program to the discipline and work ethic she developed competing as an athlete during her adolescent and early adult years.

The opportunity to combine Division I sports with great academics and co-op also attracted European swimming champion Anna Schegoleva, '17, to Northeastern's School of Pharmacy. This former National Champion of Cyprus, Champion of Greece, European Junior Champion, and finalist in the Junior Olympic Games in Singapore already has five school records at Northeastern and has been awarded “CAA Swimmer of the Week” while making the Dean's List the last two years in a row. While balancing athletics with academics can be tiring, Anna finds satisfaction in meeting the challenge and is looking forward to her first co-op experience this summer.

Academic and athletic scholarship recipient Stephen Sollowin, '17, decided to pursue a career in physical therapy after working with his mother, a physical therapist. A native of Weymouth, MA, Stephen explains: “Northeastern attracted my attention because it had one of the best physical therapy programs around, the co-op program increased my chances of getting a job placement right after school, and I loved the small campus feel in the middle of the city.” For Stephen, physical therapy and athletics naturally go hand in hand. “I ran cross country for three years in high school and track and field all four years. I was captain of my team for both my junior and senior years.” While juggling academics and athletics on the collegiate level can be challenging admits Stephen, “I try to be smart with time management.”

Growing up in San Leandro, CA, Megan Kehoe, '16, never thought she'd leave the West Coast. But she did know she wanted to study physical therapy and after learning about Bouvé College's Doctorate of Physical Therapy Program and its co-ops, she decided it suited her professional goals. She also finds Boston a “beautiful, fun, lively city that reminds me of home and San Francisco.” Megan plays volleyball—a sport she's played since she was ten years old—for Northeastern's varsity team. She finds her athletic and academic pursuits mutually beneficial and enriching: “When I am working out or just at practice, I sometimes get lost in thinking about what muscles I am using...my teammates ask me questions about injuries they think they have...how to stretch certain muscles, etc.” This past fall, she did her first co-op at the Spine Center of the Dedham Health and Athletic Complex. “I was able to work directly with patients, helping them through their exercises on machines and free weights, taking their range of motion, and leading stretch classes."

Paralympic swimming champion and physical therapy student Kelley Becherer, '15, has won three gold medals and four bronze medals from the London 2012 and Beijing 2008 Paralympics. She is also the holder of many American and Pan American records, as well as a world record. A native of Sheboygan, WI, Kelley says many things drew her to Northeastern: “The fact that the PT program is a doctorate program was a big selling point. But mainly I fell in love with Boston. I had never been anywhere in New England before looking at colleges. I love the campus and the fact that it is a hiatus in the middle of a big city. I was ready for new things, new people, and to move out of the Midwest. Plus, the swim team and coach here are amazing.” In terms of negotiating the demands of being both an athlete and full-time student, says Kelley: “The support that I have gotten from my teachers and the athletic support staff has been unreal. Both are willing to work together to help me do my best with minimum stress about managing my time.”