{"id":1052,"date":"2017-07-31T07:51:33","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T14:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/inspiring-lights\/?p=1052"},"modified":"2017-08-14T12:47:37","modified_gmt":"2017-08-14T19:47:37","slug":"inspiring-lights-making-waves-in-swimming-stem-leah-troskot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/inspiring-lights\/2017\/07\/31\/inspiring-lights-making-waves-in-swimming-stem-leah-troskot\/","title":{"rendered":"Making waves in swimming & STEM – Leah Troskot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Born Calgary & raised in Lethbridge, local swimming sensation Leah Troskot has done more than just make a name for herself in the pool. Leah is also blazing a trail for females in the STEM field as one of the few women in her mechanical engineering program at Louisiana State University. As the LSU Swim Team captain for the past two years, NCAA Championship qualifier and LSU record holder, Leah can certainly hold her own in the pool and the classroom. Home for the summer, Leah is putting theory into practice while working on the Destination Project, before she heads off to the 2017 Canadian Swimming Championships this week.<\/p>\n

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Leah has been working as a project coordinator on the Destination project this summer.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI came to work on the new science and academic building thanks to my long-time, close friend\u2019s father, Dr. Christopher Nicol (Library). Chris was kind enough to ask Brian Sullivan (Facilities) if there would be any opportunity for a mechanical engineering student to work the new science and academic building. Brian reached out and I\u2019m so grateful to be working on the Destination Project this summer. It\u2019s really allowed me to put theory into practice and get some industry experience under my belt before heading into my final year of study at LSU.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents, Regina Troskot (BEd \u201990, Med \u201904) & Dragan Troskot (BA \u201991), have especially enjoyed me being home and getting to work on a project at their alma mater is quite special. My parents actually met here, they were on the Pronghorn cross-country and track teams. My sister, Fallon, is currently a student at the U of L too, working on her BAS in Anthropology. It\u2019s been neat to learn more about the University that has played a big part in their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up in Lethbridge, I was really fortunate to have such a supportive swimming experience. First with the Orcas and then with the Lethbridge Amateur Swim Club (LASC). This city has such an incredible pool of talent in the sport and I don\u2019t think many people realize just how good of a program we have here. My home coach is Peter Schori, who is the head coach of the Pronghorns team and the LASC. I love coming back and getting in the pool with my old team. I\u2019m the old lady now compared to the 14 and 15 year-olds but they really give me a run for my money at training!<\/p>\n

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Leah in the pool. Photo courtesy of LSU Athletics – http:\/\/www.lsusports.net<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe collegiate athletics programs in the U.S. are something else, it\u2019s been an incredible to experience. It was a bit of a culture shock when I first arrived at LSU. Besides the humidity and the environment, the athletics scene is so intense. \u00a0In a lot of sports, the collegiate level is often more popular that the professional level. Everything from the facilities to the support systems are really focused on helping you to be as successful as you can in the pool and in the classroom. I feel very fortunate to have been offered a scholarship to swim and study there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided to pursue mechanical engineering because I really enjoyed mathematics and physics in high school and engineering seemed like a perfect marriage of the two. Plus, engineering is also a field that allows you to be quite creative which I really love. I don\u2019t consider myself to have any traditional artistic talent, but I love to experiment with film photography because you can control the elements. Engineering is very much the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m quite often the only woman in some of my labs and I\u2019d love to see more women in the enrolling in the STEM fields of study. I realize it\u2019s an often male-dominated industry but so many of my female friends in high school really enjoyed mathematics and science that I find it difficult to see why more woman aren\u2019t pursuing STEM careers. There\u2019s a lot of opportunities out there and I love seeing other women in the industry, especially at the Destination Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wonderful when organizations can give future professionals the opportunity to acquire real-world experiences. I think it makes a difference when you are looking at entering the workforce as you may be more likely to return to those companies that gave you a start in the industry.<\/p>\n

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Leah at work on the new science and academic building.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be going into my fifth and final year at LSU next semester, my final lap. While I\u2019ve really loved my experience, I am looking forward to coming back to Canada. You do really miss the little things when you\u2019re living away. Funny things like not being able to find your favourite cooking spice or candy or being so close to the Rockies. I definitely don\u2019t miss my hair freezing on the walk from the pool to the car in the early morning though. That\u2019s an experience I\u2019ll happily leave behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy time at the Destination Project is wrapping up and I\u2019ll be sad to leave. The team here has been very welcoming and a lot of fun to work with. There\u2019s a lot of expertise and knowledge in the small group working on the new science and academic building and I feel very grateful to have been a small part of. I\u2019ll be looking forward to coming home and seeing it all completed next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Born Calgary & raised in Lethbridge, local swimming sensation Leah Troskot has done more than just make a name for herself in the pool. Leah is also blazing a trail…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":1053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2,4,40,5,6],"tags":[78,148,146,143,18,149,145,147,100,125,144,33,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-1052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-alumni","8":"category-faculty-staff","9":"category-inspiring-lights","10":"category-on-campus","11":"category-students","12":"tag-calgary","13":"tag-engineering","14":"tag-lasc","15":"tag-leah-troskot","16":"tag-lethbridge","17":"tag-louisiana-state-university","18":"tag-lsu","19":"tag-orcas","20":"tag-pronghorns","21":"tag-stem","22":"tag-swimming","23":"tag-yql","24":"tag-yyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/inspiring-lights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/inspiring-lights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/inspiring-lights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/inspiring-lights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/inspiring-lights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1052"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/inspiring-lights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1064,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/inspiring-lights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052\/revisions\/1064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/inspiring-lights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/inspiring-lights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/inspiring-lights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/inspiring-lights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}