On November 18, graduating students from the University of Toronto Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KPE) joined their peers across the University in an online virtual fall convocation. Following the virtual event, KPE students and their families and friends, were able to tune in to a more intimate KPE graduation reception online, which featured an address from the dean of KPE, Professor Gretchen Kerr.
We caught up with two graduating students from KPE to learn more about their paths to kinesiology, their experiences in the program and plans for the future. Meet Brenaven (Bren) Kugamoorthy, graduating with a bachelor of kinesiology degree, and Denise Bastas, who earned a master’s of science degree.
Brenaven (Bren) Kugamoorthy was always passionate about sport, especially basketball. As a student of the Bill Crothers Secondary School, he competed for their varsity prep team across Canada and the US, winning the silver medal in the National High School Basketball Prep School Championships.
Along with basketball, he also pursued a love of music, training in seven types of percussion over the years and working as a part-time musician.
“That’s how I discovered my love of teaching through music,” he says.
But it was his sister, a medical student at the time, who set him on a path to kinesiology by bringing him along to medical conferences and seminars.
“That’s where I picked up an interest in sport medicine,” says Kugamoorthy. “I developed a strong interest in learning more about the body, movement, training and sport psychology.”
The Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education seemed to encompass all of those interests and had a reputation of having a tight-knit community.
“Kinesiology is such a broad discipline, it introduced me to a diversity of knowledge about sports performance, rehabilitation and the physiological effects of exercise,” says Kugamoorthy. “I was introduced to courses I never knew existed that taught me about sport policy, gender rights, ethics and more …”
He is grateful to all the faculty and staff who have enriched his KPE experience, which has included hosting the Toronto 2019 Kinesiology Games, representing the Faculty as an ambassador over four years, providing incoming students with a safe and welcoming community in the Faculty’s first-year outdoor education courses and orientations, participating in various equity and diversity initiatives and working in the Faculty’s Strength and Conditioning Centre. All this on top of a full course load.
“The most useful lesson I’m taking away is managing my time, which allowed me to have a well-rounded and rich undergraduate experience,” says Kugamoorthy. “At times I found it challenging to balance both, but that’s when I realized that reaching out to professors and teaching assistants, and accessing resources such as wellness counsellors, student advisors and learning strategists can help me get through to the other side.”
For his leadership and contributions to both KPE and U of T, Kugamoorthy was awarded a number of Dean’s Student Leadership Awards and, in 2021, the U of T Student Leadership Award. On November 18, he’ll have another honour bestowed upon him when he joins 25 other divisional student ambassadors making cameos during U of T’s virtual convocation ceremony to salute graduating students across the University’s faculties, colleges and campuses.
Next up for Kugamoorthy will be exploring avenues of integrating his passion for sports, research and medicine. In the meantime, he is staying busy training athletes looking to improve their performance and fitness levels and working part-time with the Varsity Blues, assisting coaches.
Denise Bastas will be graduating with a Master of Science degree from kinesiology, having specialized in exercise and oncology in the Exercise Oncology Lab at KPE, led by Assistant Professor Linda Trinh.
“This area of research was of great interest to me, as I am very passionate about advocating for an active lifestyle for health,” says Bastas. “I firmly believe exercise is medicine, not only for ameliorating physical symptoms, but also for improving mental health across the cancer care trajectory.”
Bastas’ research focused on enhancing discussions about the benefits of physical activity between oncologists and people living with and beyond cancer.
“Physical activity is associated with many benefits to cancer-related health outcomes of cancer survivors, including improved quality of life, physical functioning and cancer-related fatigue,” says Bastas. “However, cancer survivors do not engage in sufficient physical activity to achieve these health benefits.”
According to Bastas, oncologists are in a unique position to help cancer survivors make changes to their physical activity behaviour, since they are highly trusted by their patients. However, despite evidence showing improved physical activity levels following direct recommendations by oncologists, many oncologists do not regularly discuss physical activity with survivors.
Bastas tackled this issue by producing a webinar training module as part of her master’s thesis, which will serve to train oncologists on the benefits of physical activity for cancer survivors, the current physical activity guidelines and available resources to assist these discussions in practice.
“The idea is to provide oncologists with the necessary tools and knowledge to effectively and confidently start discussing physical activity with cancer survivors,” says Bastas. “This may lead to increased physical activity behaviour among cancer survivors for better quality of life and health outcomes.”
Bastas wants to give a special shout out to her supervisor, Assistant Professor Linda Trinh, for “being an exceptional professor, mentor and person.”
“She went above and beyond throughout my degree, providing guidance and support with my work, but also to me as a person,” says Bastas. “I feel very grateful for the opportunity to learn from her and work with her.”
Bastas is currently working as a clinical research assistant at the Hospital for Sick Children, gaining valuable clinical research experience that she hopes to carry with her in her pursuit of a doctoral degree.