Kerry Smith, exercise science professor at Dean College, met with the Dean Daily to discuss Women’s History Month. With a Bachelor’s in Athletic Training, Master in Sport Administration, and soon PhD in Health and Human Performance, Kerry has surrounded her life in science.
Being a professor at Dean isn’t her only job. “I am an adjunct professor and advisor at other institutions. I do private nutrition and training, volunteer coaching for kids, and I am a mom,” said Kerry. Foreshadowing later into her interview, Kerry notes something she finds crucial to leading away from gender stereotypes: “I think it’s important for children to have female coaches.”
Science has become such a major part of Kerry’s life. “I am a science nerd. I think science gives us a truth. We can test hypotheses and learn what works or doesn’t work, and how to advance populations and technology. Science extends the longevity of life and is literally the most essential topic that needs to be taught in school.”
The Importance of Women’s History Month:
“I think for a long time women have been treated as inferior by society, so it’s important to value the ones before us that opened the doors and led the way through our education,” said Kerry. “My daughter and I read feminism books; it’s still not easy to be a woman. Spreading awareness helps to give thanks to the women we are growing from.”
Kerry notes some times where she’s felt inferior in her schooling. “As an athletic trainer I was not allowed to apply to the New England Patriots for an internship around the early 2000s because I am a woman. I was the top athletic training student two years in a row and won awards for my achievements, yet I still didn’t get the internship. The males did. I couldn’t go into professional sports because I was a female. It was all I wanted to do and was told I couldn’t.”
Even in personal training, Kerry faces difficult situations all because she is a woman. “Someone once told me they didn’t want to train with a ‘chick.’”
The negative experiences don’t outweigh the positive influences Kerry’s had, though. Even when she wanted to quit, her boss told her to “stay in the field because you’re good at it. He was the one that led me to other careers like strength and conditioning, personal training, and academia. He was my impressionable mentor. I wanted to be an administrator and he steered me away. He was 100% right.”
Kerry ends it off adding in some affirmations she keeps for herself that she wants to share for women and girls that want to work in science. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent, spoken by Eleanor Roosevelt.”
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