BSN Student Balances Competitive Track With her Nursing Education

Michelle, who runs with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, is a second year BSN student at the Saskatoon Campus. Before coming to the U of S, she was going to school on an athletic scholarship at Rice University in Houston, Texas, enrolled in kinesiology.

Running track has been part of Young's life for eight years. She won six Saskatoon high school gold medals and broke the 200-metre city record. She also won six additional provincial golds, establishing new marks in the 100, 200 and four-by-100. Although she loves running track, this year she has decided to focus solely on hurdles. This is her first competitive season running with the Huskies, due to injury last year, but this isn't her first time competing in hurdles. Previously, she was the Youth 100m Hurdles National Champion and meet record holder, she was a semi-finalist in the World Youth Championships 400m Hurdles and champion in the 100m Hurdles at the Canada Summer Games.

Michelle's most recent achievement happened at the start of February when she claimed a silver medal among world class athletes at the Knights of Columbus Indoor Games held in Saskatoon. Competing in the Vassos Marketing Women's Invitational 60m Hurdles, Michelle finished in 8.46, just behind LaVonne Idelette of the Dominican Republic who took gold with a time of 8.27. Young plans to continue running track for her remaining years at U of S and after she completes her BSN program, she would like to continue running track at a national level.

Given Michelle is just in her second year of the program, she is still trying to figure out which area of nursing she would eventually like to work in, but she does know she wants to pick an area that allows her to travel with work. When asked why she chose the BSN program at U of S, Young replied, "I chose the U of S to pursue my nursing education because I like studying and training at home with the support of my friends and family." She went on to say, "The College of Nursing advisors have been very accommodating. I have been working closely with them to balance my current and future class schedule around my training schedule."

Michelle's next big competition will see her competing at the Canada West Track and Field Championships at the University of Alberta on February 21st and 22nd. The College of Nursing wishes her best of luck!