June 27, 2022

UOW medicine student wins Australia Institute of Sport scholarship

Jasmine Locke shares how her interest in medicine and sports complement each other

Jasmine Locke is one of the few students who has chosen two different careers and is excelling at both. An avid kayaker and an aspiring medicine student, she has found the right balance in managing her career in athletics and at university.

She was recently awarded a scholarship from the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), an organisation that supports Australian high-performance athletes in their pursuit of study and educational experiences.

The AIS Athlete Education Scholarship Program aims to provide financial support to high-performance athletes who commit themselves beyond their training and competitions to pursue education opportunities. 

Jasmine is a Towradgi local and is in her second year of the Bachelor of Pre-Medicine in Science and Health at the University of Wollongong (UOW). Her dream is to get into Graduate Medicine and ultimately work in paediatrics in the future.

_{Jasmine Locke (back seat) paddling in the K4. Photo by Carolyn Cooper} 

Before entering the world of paddling, she started kayaking for Surf Life Saving to get better at the surf ski discipline. Her journey with paddling started about five years ago to get better at the sport, and she fell in love with the sport. She was first selected to represent Australia when she was chosen for the Under 18 Australian team in 2020.

 “The scholarship is incredibly important to me,” She said.

“Being a full-time student and training at the same time is hard to manage. The scholarship alleviates the pressure of taking another job and helps focusing more on the sport and the university.

“It’s also important to me to achieve my goals in both areas without juggling too much.

“UOW has let me have the flexibility of studying online, which helped with managing both the sport and my classes simultaneously.

“My tutors and subject coordinators have been very supportive too. I had to travel interstate to race and train, and I got the flexibility to change classes and received academic consideration when I needed.”

Jasmine is excited to travel in August this year to participate in the 2022 U23 World Championships in Hungary.

About the AIS Education Athlete Scholarship:

Each year, the scholarship has a total funding pool of $200,000 available for allocation through the Athlete Education Scholarship Program. The maximum scholarship amount available to any individual is $5,000. Scholarship amounts are determined by the AIS as part of the assessment process. Students who receive the scholarship must complete the unit or course of study for which a Scholarship is awarded, by the applicant by the end of the year.

Main pic: Jasmine paddling in the K1. Photo by JGRimages