Throughout the spring semester we are honoring our senior student-athletes with a "Senior Salute" series. Today's featured senior is Jill Murray, a neuroscience major from Middlebury, Connecticut. Murray is a member of the field hockey and women's lacrosse teams.
Q: Why did you choose to attend The College of Wooster?
A: I chose to attend the College because I could be a dual-sport athlete while still taking part in the incredible STEM programs Wooster offers.
Q: What does being a Fighting Scot student-athlete mean to you?
A: Being a Fighting Scot student-athlete has been my favorite part of my college experience because it gives me a fun, motivational break from the classroom. I get to be with my best friends and strive towards the common goal of being the best student-athletes we can be.
Q: What are some of your favorite memories as a student at The College of Wooster?
A: My favorite memories are off-campus excursions with my athletic teams, sledding down the baseball hill on a Rubbermaid tote lid after the first snowfall, cooking Thanksgiving meals with my best friends, and getting into some amazing internship programs.
Q: What is the best part about being a student-athlete at The College of Wooster?
A: The friends who have become family along the way.
Q: What else were you involved with on campus besides your sport?
A: I am a peer tutorat the Academic Resource Center, I am a health coach with the Wooster Community Hospital Health Coach Program, and I am in the Neuroscience Club.
Q: Which College of Wooster faculty or staff member has made the greatest impact on you and why?
A: Dr. Amy Jo Stavnezerhas had the greatest impact on me in my years at Wooster. Through her coursework, I have been able to explore many specific fields of neuroscience, many of which I have sparked an interest in for postgraduate research.
Q: What other people or resources impacted your Wooster experience in a positive way and how did these people and resources set you up to be successful at Wooster?
A: The health coach program nurses and doctors have been very encouraging and taught me so much as I got to know and care for my patients in this program. Thanks to them, I feel more prepared entering the healthcare field. My coaches were incredible sources of support during my years at Wooster. They always have my back and are there for me when I need them. My Independent Studyadvisor, Dr. Stephanie Strand, has been an incredible source of knowledge through the process of designing and completing my project. I have learned so much and have felt very encouraged working with her.
Q: Tell us a bit about your Independent Study project?
A: My Independent Study project looks at the gut brain axis in the organism C. elegans, and how bacteria in the gut can secrete and supply serotonin to the body that can be used to alter behaviors associated with nervous system functioning.
Q: Tell us a bit about something cool you did as a student at The College of Wooster?
A: I had two summer internships, one at a microbiology lab at the University of Connecticut and another in a neuroscience lab at the University of Florida. I was able to conduct research and explore what a future career in laboratory work could look like with these internships.
Q: Reflecting back on your time at Wooster what advice would you give your first-year (freshman) self?
A: Plan ahead and structure your courses and experiences to set yourself up for success in the future. Apply to internships and take risks; you never know what opportunities may come of them. Most importantly don't take the four years you have here for granted because they come and go in the blink of an eye.
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