Category: Grade 9

Community Connections

Nele on

For this Community Connections Project, I decided to interview Jen Cross. She is a volleyball player, currently on the Team Canada National Volleyball Team. She has also played professional volleyball around Europe. Her position is a middle blocker. I choose to interview Jen Cross because on of my passions is playing volleyball. I often play as a middle blocker as well and would like to keep improving as a volleyball player. I picked Jen Cross to interview because she is a captain on her team, which I think is really cool and she has played all across Europe, including for playing for Germany. I am from Germany, so I thought this was another good reason to interview her.

After interviewing Jen Cross I feel that I have gotten a chance to learn more about her career and this passion of mine. She has taught me to never give up on myself and to not let other people’s expectations limit me as a player and as a person. She has always taught me resilience, so to not give up after failure and to not allow mistakes to drag me down. Lastly, I have learned to prioritize what is most important to me. Whether that is my family or friends or a sport, in this case volleyball. She has made me realize that I do have limits and that I must put what is most important to me in my life first, and to never give up on those things.

Below you will find the 6 different questions I asked Jen Cross about her career and what she had to say about them!

  1. Why are you so passionate about your career?

I am so passionate about my career because I just simply love the game of volleyball and all the opportunities it has given me in my life. I love the feeling of competing against a team or an opponent and giving my all to see who comes out victorious. I also love being in a team environment, I have become so close with my teammates and coaches. These lifelong friendships and relationships are hard to come by in a regular 9 to 5 job. Volleyball has taught me so much about hard work, communication, and just overall having a better understanding about people.

2. What obstacles have you faced to get to where you are today?

I am coming through some pretty difficult injuries in my career, including a torn patellar tendon and a genetic heart condition I had to have surgery on while I was in college. Plus, the regular injuries volleyball players suffer from every day. Injuries are not easy to deal with both mentally and physically! I’ve also had to deal with the strain of being so far from home and my family all the time. I have missed countless weddings, birthdays, and major family events for my career. It’s hard to miss those moments year after year, but the people close to me know that this is my passion and life and understand the sacrifices I have to make sometimes.

3. What advice would you pass on to someone that is interested in what you are doing?

I would tell them to never give up on themselves. I didn’t become successful because I was the most gifted athlete physically, but because I continue to work hard every single day and I never give up on myself. I know I am able to accomplish amazing things on and off the court and I have tried really hard to not let other people’s expectations limit what I believe I can do. Work hard, be a good teammate and always try your best.

4. Would you be open to further contact from Riverside students and if so, how can they contact you?

Absolutely! Instagram DM at @jencross2 is probably the easiest since I am on there all the time, or through my email at jencross2@gmail.com.

5. What made you start playing volleyball?

In the middle of 7th grade, I switched to a middle school that had several girls playing on a club volleyball team. I played with them on the school team and after a year of them trying to persuade me to try out for club, I finally did. I had already playing provincial level hockey and soccer at this point, so my mum didn’t see how I could fit another sport into my busy schedule. But I went to the first tryout and instantly fell in love and begged my mum to let me play! The rest is history!

6. What has been one of your most significant/ memorable events, games, or tournaments?

I have been so blessed to have been very successful in my career so far! I think there are several significant moments at each stage of my career. I would say for club volleyball, was winning MVP as a 17-year-old at the U18 national championships. My team won 5 consecutive national championships and to win MVP as a younger player was special. In college, it was definitely making it to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association)  final four and becoming a 2 time All – American. It was an amazing experience and I felt like I was truly at my best. In my professional career, I have won several league and cup championships as well!

I have learned so much from Jen Cross and would like to thank her for taking the time to answer my questions.

*The photos in this blog post are from Jen Cross’ Instagram account listed below. 

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/jencross2/ or @jencross2

Email – jencross2@gmail.com

Previous experience, player status, and teams – https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-cross-76a67670

 

TOKTW 2019

Nele on

(Alternate Assignment)

Career: Cardiothoracic Surgery 

A cardiothoracic surgeon specializes mainly on the heart and lungs, as well as the other thoracic (chest) organs. These kinds of surgeons also diagnose and treat diseases involving these specific organs. They do it both surgically and without preforming a surgery.

The information I have here, is partly from doing research, using multiple reliable health websites, hospital sites and parts of this information is what I already knew myself.

To become a cardiothoracic surgeon, you need to complete four years of collage/ university, studying biology, chemistry, math and physics. You also need to go through four years of medical school, five years of a general surgery residency and a two to three year cardiothoracic fellowship.

The general courses you need to take (biology, chemistry, math, physics), can be done in collage/ university. Any further medical training can be done in medical school or in a hospital, when you are completing your residency or fellowship.

To get into medical school, you need a strong overall GPA, especially in science, you need real medical experience, references, lots of research and you must pick a major to specialize in. Before going into your residency, you must complete one year of being an intern and at least two months of working in another specialty to broaden your See the source imageeducation. You also must pass your intern exams, or you will need to repeat your year of internship. As a resident, you must pass your boards, which is a much more complicated procedure of tests, determining whether you can move on and become an attending/ get a fellowship in a specialty.

Becoming a surgeon, specifically a cardiothoracic surgeon in very difficult and does not leave much room for error. You must graduate from collage or university and have at least an average GPA (3.5+). Without those two things, you have no chance in getting into medical school, which is the start of the start of the career. You need to graduate from medical school before you can even begin your internship, later leading to your residency and so on, so there are no other options for your path to becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon.

The salary of a cardiothoracic surgeons really depends on your experience and how many work hours you log. You can earn anywhere between $200,000 annually when you have around five to ten years of experience and $500,000 with over ten years experience.

On your way to becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon, you begin in university, then move on to medical school. Next, you become an intern at a hospital and start your residency program. Lastly, you can get a fellowship and become an attending, which for most surgeons is the top of list however, there is a possibility to be the chief of cardiothoracic surgery at your hospital, or even the chief of all surgery in the hospital. Once you have reached where want in your career, you could discover new surgical techniques, surgeries, medicines, cures and diseases, which is what saving lives is all about.

Cardiologists, cardiovascular sonograpSee the source imagehers (thoracic health professional), and physician assistants are all related to a cardiothoracic surgeon, as well as a general surgeon because they could also be working on thoracic (chest) organs, only more broadly than a cardiothoracic surgeon.

Even though I did not actually go to a workplace and physically learn about this career, I have still learned new things about it, such as that cardiothoracic surgeons do not only work on the heart, but also on the lungs and other organs in the chest, which I have learned are called thoracic organs. I have also learned more about how to get into medical school and how to get promoted to a resident and/ or attending. I  have never realized how much training is really needed to become this kind of surgeon and before this project, I didn’t know how much surgeons really made. I only had a rough estimate of their salary, which turned out to be very far off. This happened all throughout the project, where I had an idea of the career however, when it came to researching, the information I received was quite surprising.