{"id":44094,"date":"2017-03-16T13:20:20","date_gmt":"2017-03-16T17:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=44094"},"modified":"2017-03-16T13:34:43","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T17:34:43","slug":"brock-student-overcomes-injury-to-win-national-grant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2017\/03\/brock-student-overcomes-injury-to-win-national-grant\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock student overcomes injury to win national grant"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/b>Alex Finlayson knows what it\u2019s like to get knocked down \u2014 and to fight to get back up again.<\/span><\/p>\n

The third-year Brock Concurrent Education student began a long road to recovery after suffering a serious concussion during a hockey game in late 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through the headaches, memory loss and difficulty concentrating, Finlayson pushed forward and continued to work toward her goal of becoming a French-language educator.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, the 20-year-old Etobicoke native was recently recognized with a coveted national grant given to only three people annually across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finlayson was chosen for the 2016-17 Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Endowment Fund for Study in a Second Official Language, a $7,000 national bursary to support her continued education.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo apply and be chosen while working through the concussion is something I\u2019m really proud of accomplishing,\u201d Finlayson said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know if I was going to be able to get my application in on time because of the headaches I was experiencing and other symptoms.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The application process required several writing components outlining Finlayson\u2019s background, love of teaching and involvement of French in her future career.<\/span><\/p>\n

The concussion caused her to struggle, but her drive to succeed pushed her past the obstacles the injury left in her way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finlayson has never been one to shy away from a challenge.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a child, she decided to pursue French immersion schooling later than most, despite having no background in the language.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was in third grade,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cI thought it was so cool to be able to speak another language. It was something no one in my family could do, so I wanted to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Finlayson hopes to someday pass her passion for French along to her students.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to help kids see what\u2019s so great about French and what the benefits are of studying another language,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The grant money will support her tuition costs, with a portion also set aside to aid in future travel to France.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m planning to do a teaching placement there so I can simultaneously work and develop my French language further,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finlayson was able to rejoin Brock\u2019s hockey team in November after an extended period off the ice.<\/span><\/p>\n

She credits the support of her teammates, coaches, family and friends for helping to make her comeback \u2014 in the rink and in the classroom \u2014 a reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a long process,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m grateful to have been able to make such a strong recovery.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brock student Alex Finlayson, who was determined to continue with her studies following a serious head injury, was recently named one of three recipients of a coveted national grant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":44095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[40,3319,1,4],"tags":[5054,327,5055,5053],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44094"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}