A series to highlight Colgate Women's Soccer student-athletes' activities on campus and in the community.
This week's interview is with junior Jenna Borovinsky.
What opportunities has being a student-athlete at Colgate University provided you?
Growing up I never thought I wanted to attend a small university in a rural area, but as soon as I stepped foot on campus and in the village of Hamilton I knew that it was meant to be. The people here define community, and even when I wasn't a student here I felt a part of it. Being a student-athlete at Colgate is definitely unique due to the combination of having a liberal arts education and a D1 athletics program. I find that this combination is the perfect balance that gives me a plethora of opportunities to thrive. I am majoring in molecular biology on the pre-med track, and minoring in Jewish studies. On top of taking humanities courses through having a liberal arts education, my major and minor courses create a very diverse yet balanced schedule. Furthermore, having small class sizes has allowed me to form strong relationships with professors, really allowing myself to better understand topics learned in class and have many engaging discussions.
The Colgate community strives for the success and well wellbeing of each and every student. I am so grateful for my academic advisors and liaisons who truly provide so much help and guidance. Along with having amazing wellness resources, there are so many resources available to help students prepare for life after Colgate. For example, Colgate offers so many engaging opportunities for research, fellowships, and internships through different departments and within Career Services; these opportunities also arise through the extensive and community-like alumni network that Colgate has. This network has allowed me to make many connections that have been super beneficial in looking for internships and job opportunities. An example of this is how I was able to go to a seminar between classes with Rob Stone, a renowned ESPN broadcaster, who is an alumni of the men's soccer team. I got to directly meet with him after the seminar individually, and he gave such inspirational career advice that I will never forget. Career Services has also provided me with significant opportunities such as the incredible experience I had such in shadowing an optometrist for the day which allowed me to gain more interest in that field.
Along with being on the women's soccer team, I work within Athletic Communications and find it super empowering to be involved on a different side of athletics and have done things from filming hockey games broadcasted on ESPN, to relaying subs at field hockey matches. Additionally, I find it very important to volunteer and give back to the greater Colgate community that has given me so much. Along with volunteering at Sherburne Elementary School in the Adopt-a-Classroom Program with fellow student-athletes, I am a member of the Challah for Hunger club, am the treasurer of the Colgate Jewish Union, and am on the Student Advisory Council for the COVE (Max Shacknai Center for Outreach, Volunteerism, and Education).
Through a Field School Fellowship with Colgate, you completed a 10-week summer project. Tell us about what the fellowship entailed and how it impacted the greater Colgate community.
This summer I had the incredible opportunity to complete a 10-week summer project through the Upstate Institute at Colgate University. My project was with Pathfinder Village. Pathfinder Village is a community in which people with developmental disabilities are able to thrive and find their unique talents and infinite abilities through numerous programs such as the Otsego Academy, which is a college program they have. I specifically applied to be a fellow at Pathfinder Village because I completed an alternative spring break program through Colgate during my freshman year, in which I directly volunteered with Otsego Academy and created meaningful relationships that will last a lifetime. It was an incredible experience and I am so grateful that I was able to work with them again this summer. As this fellowship was remote, I was really thankful that I had this past opportunity in which I was able to physically be at Pathfinder Village making the remote aspects feel more familiar. As opposed to the spring break program I participated in, this summer I researched Pathfinder's mobile market program that serves Otsego County, a greater Colgate community.
Beginning in 2018, staff at Pathfinder Village began a Pathfinder Produce Mobile Market accommodating those who struggle with a medical condition and food insecurity in its surrounding Otsego County community. The program's staff includes members of Pathfinder Village with developmental disabilities making it a very meaningful work opportunity. The program, approved by grants from the LCHP (Leatherstocking Collaborative Health Partners), entails delivering fresh produce along with recipes to those that qualify for the program; in total 50 Medicaid recipients were approved to receive vouchers. In 2019, a proposal was accepted to expand the program with another 50 vouchers to Lantern Hill Mobile Home Park in Oneonta, NY, with the goal of expanding the program to neighboring counties. However, because there are individuals in Otsego County itself who qualify and are on the waitlist, the original program is clearly popular and needs more funding.
Through my research I have made several observations about the Otsego County and Lantern Hill communities such as the extreme food insecurity, lack of transportation, and other social determinants, that have led to many health issues in these two communities. My goal was to help improve these issues and help gain the attention of insurance companies to gain more funding for this mobile market program which has shown to be super impactful on the community in improving some of these barriers.
This project impacted the greater Colgate community as Pathfinder Village is a community in Otsego County, which is a neighboring county to Madison County in which the village of Hamilton resides. The areas surrounding Colgate suffer from extreme food insecurity, and rural areas in general are considered food deserts in which the access to grocery stores and healthy produce is limited. I live in a very urban area in California, and doing this research remotely made me realize how privileged I am to have easy access to fresh produce. This internship really increased my interest in public health and I am very excited and grateful as I was given the opportunity to extend this fellowship this fall.
How did your remote fellowship influence the way you're preparing for this fall's new 'normal' at Colgate?
My remote fellowship really influenced the way I prepared for this fall's new 'normal' at Colgate. As my internship was fully remote, all communication was done over video chats, emails, and phone calls. I had to really have strong communication in order to make this internship work. This really correlates with the need for strong communication to succeed this fall at Colgate. One of my classes this semester is completely remote and asynchronous, meaning that I have to stay on top of the syllabus, be individually accountable, and have integrity for staying on top of lectures and classwork. It is up to me to attend Zoom office hour meetings for extra help, and up to me to put in the extra study time required to succeed in this rigorous course. This summer really prepared specifically for this class as while I followed a weekly work plan for my internship, I had to stay accountable to complete the work as I was ultimately on my own schedule. This summer truly showed me that the final product of something is a result of all the work you put in, and the more work you put the easier it will be to succeed. I will most definitely be following these words this semester at Colgate.
