For Kassidy MacPhail (class of 2013), 2018 was a busy year.
In May, she graduated from Northeastern University in Boston with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. Shortly after graduation, she embarked on a two-month journey to Asia. The trip included a month in Nepal, where she visited the Mount Everest base camp.
“There were definitely some bucket list items I was able to check off,” Kassidy explains about her trip to Asia and the Everest experience, in particular. At an altitude of over 5,300 metres, getting to the Everest base camp was a ten-day trek that she completed with friends from Northeastern.
Now back in Boston, Kassidy’s busy 2018 continues. In mid-August she is off to New York, where she will begin her Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at Columbia University. While many envision a career in sports to be on the playing field or in the studio, Kassidy has used her knowledge and experience as an athlete to pursue a career path in product design for sports and sports medicine.
She credits Edge School and Northeastern for helping support and prepare her along this path. “The way that Edge teaches balance between sports and academics really helped me,” she explains. “In addition to enabling me to pursue my interest in dance and track and field, at Edge I learned about dedication – to not give up when you fail or face challenges. It’s inspiring to be around people with this mindset, and I continue to surround myself with these types of students.”
Indeed, she found this kind of community at Northeastern, where she was able to complete two co-op terms that strengthened her interest in applying mechanical design concepts to sports. At Columbia, Kassidy is excited to continue her education, focusing on product design. With the large medical community in Boston and the Eastern U.S., she envisions establishing a career in the area after completing her studies at Columbia. However, Calgary is still home and she expects to return to the city in the future.
In the meantime, the way Kassidy has integrated academics and athletics is a great example for current Edge students and she will be happy to share her experience with them when she is home for a visit. “The teachers and staff at Edge have such great knowledge of the U.S. college system. That was certainly important for me and it is a big benefit for today’s students,” she explains.