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College Experience Leads To International Opportunities

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Image of woman in glasses standing on balcony overlooking a mountain range.

Jasmine Osiowy has a lot of great memories of her experience as a College of the Rockies University Studies student. “The atmosphere was friendly and personable, and there were many opportunities to get involved with a variety of activities,” she said.

One of those activities took her halfway around the globe.

Jasmine’s love of travelling, and her background in video and photography, led to a COTR internship opportunity in which she spent six weeks in 2007 documenting aspects of the college’s involvement in Kenya. “While I was there I shot footage of people, places, and organizations, and when I came home I put together four short videos,” she said.

The videos include a feature on Nyeri, the town that the interns were based in; another on Kimathi Institute, the university-college COTR is partnered with; the third on KENWA, a local AIDS organization; and the fourth video on KEEF, a local entrepreneurship foundation.

Although she was equally excited and nervous about going to Kenya, immediately after arriving Jasmine realized that it was going to be an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “My time in Kenya was absolutely amazing. It was unlike anywhere I’ve ever been before and the people were some of the happiest and friendliest I’ve ever met,” she recalled. Her Kenyan experience has shaped the way Jasmine now sees the world and her place in it, and she expects to do more work in the international arena in the future.

After having completed a Bachelor of Science at the University of Victoria in 2009, Jasmine went on to the Northern Medical Program offered through the University of British Columbia. In 2015, Jasmine became Dr. Jasmine Osiowy!  She believes that attending COTR was one of the best things to have done out of high school, and feels that her education experience at the college was probably better than had she gone straight to university.

“I think doing the first couple of years at a college is a good way to enter the post-secondary world, not only because it is less expensive, but also because the quality of education is excellent,” Jasmine said. She explains, “It really makes a huge difference to have one-on-one help available and available often.” In addition, the college setting allowed for a lot of group work and collaboration between students and professors – fostering skills that have proven very valuable, she said. “Furthermore, some of the actual course material I took at the College is resurfacing, and I feel that I have a solid foundation base, as well as some great memories!” she added.

“I have always enjoyed the sciences, and after exploring many subject areas, I finally figured out that I was really interested in overall health and wellness. This brought me to medicine, an area with diverse possibilities, and one that incorporates much of what I have learned throughout my education, including that at the College.

Learn more about COTR’s international opportunities visit.