Pacific Index

Senior Sydney Cantrell reflects on her time at Pacific and her plans for post-graduation 

   Pictures litter the table, showcasing special moments from the four years Sydney Cantrell has spent at Pacific. In the batch, there are photos of her with friends at Henry Hagg Lake, group selfies from her first day at Pacific, and snapshots of her most recent night out with friends. Each photo finds a spot on her graduation cap, telling a story of time spent and gone. With graduation looming in the near future, she shares the details on her final reflections on being a Boxer, the details of her capstone, and her plans for post-graduation.

   “I’m a kinesiology major, which is basically exercise science,” she says casually while her hands busily trim the edges of her photos. “My capstone was developing and implementing workshops to help students to prepare for the certified, strength, and conditions specialist exam, which for short, is called the CSCS.” The exam is offered by the National Strength and Conditioning Association and is one of the highest certifications you can earn. Cantrell explains that the kinesiology curriculum at Pacific already covers a good chunk of the exam material, but her capstone focused on filling those information gaps. 

   “Our workshops were made mostly to raise awareness because a lot of people are doing athletic and personal training and it’s a really good certification to match with that,” she continues. “So that’s why we did it, because there’s been a lot of interest shown at Pacific for it, and there’s been students in the past who have done the same thing.” Paired with fellow classmate, Addie MacPherson, the duo have spent the past year raising awareness about the exam, interviewing Pacific staff who have the certification, and compiling a stack of study resources.

   Now, Cantrell and MacPherson are leading spring workshops to personally help students who are planning to take the exam. Even after their project reaches a close, their research will be passed down to future generations who can build upon it. “I would say the most meaningful impact that we had was just being able to raise awareness,” she expresses, now arranging each cut-out photo in chronological order from her freshman year to present day. “We did a survey, and a lot of people had never even heard of it until we came into classes.” 

   While her capstone has certainly taken up a good portion of the past year, her time at Pacific has been so much more than this final project. She says that one thing that will stick with her after graduation is, “The friendships that I made— I definitely met some of my favorite people at Pacific, lifelong friends…” 

   Her courses will also remain an important memory from her time here. “The biggest influence on deciding my entire career path and life choices was my anatomy class with Dr. Andrews,” Cantrell reflects. “I just loved studying anatomy and then I eventually took advanced and now I’m a TA for it.” Her time studying anatomy eventually led her to apply for sonography schools, which as she explains it, will give her the chance to continue studying anatomy for the rest of her life, helping people, and playing an active part in giving life-saving diagnoses. 

   This passion inspired her to apply for sonography programs all across the country. “Well, the process was pretty terrible,” she says with a lighthearted laugh. “I looked at like a million schools and made a big spreadsheet…and then, the school I ended up getting into is my dream school.” This dream school is otherwise known as the University of Colorado Health, which only accepts six applicants per year out of a pool of around 80. “I’m moving there in June and I’m starting the program in August, and I’m very, very excited for it.” 

   She admits that her professors and courses played a huge role in helping her admittance, but she also acknowledges the impact some of her non-major courses had on her as a person. “I really liked taking pottery, even though it was not something I’d ever done before,” she shares. “As a STEM major I didn’t have a lot of practice with the arts and I definitely had my struggles with that class, but I ended up actually really loving it and having a great time.” 

   “I feel like I had doubt in my academic abilities coming into college and I was just kind of like ‘oh, C’s get degrees,’” she teases, recalling how much she’s changed over the course of her studies. “And then after taking classes and being able to study topics that I’m interested in…and then actually succeeding in them and having teachers who I feel really taught me things and made a difference on me— I realized, ‘oh, I’m a lot smarter than I thought I was.’ Like, I can take these super hard classes and do well in them and learn a lot from them.” 

   The past four years have gone by in the blink of an eye for Cantrell, but the changes and growth aren’t lost on her. As she glues the final pictures into place on her cap, she holds up a collage of the people and moments that defined the changes brought on by her time at Pacific. The last thing she finds worth mentioning is, “Go Boxers.”