.Story: Lisa Sollie|Photo: Cody Ingram. Catalina Casaru first set foot in the USA as a figured out high school student enthusiastic to make her mark in affordable swimming. Today, she is a dual person of the USA and Romania and an associate teacher of Exercise Scientific research at the University of West Alabama.
At UWA, Casaru tide over in between her pair of lifestyles, sharing her life experiences from Romania and the USA to improve her students’ understanding of the globe via Workout Science. Maturing along the Danube River, discovering to go for a swim was actually at first regarding protection, certainly not sport. At only 3 and also an one-half years of ages, Casaru began taking courses along with her older sister.
Counting much more on aspiration than skill, her decision to equal her brother or sister and more mature peers triggered her very first global competitors at grow older 11 and ultimately to the 1996 Summer Season Olympics in Atlanta Georgia, Georgia, where she excelled in the 200-meter backstroke and the 4 u00d7 100-meter relay. ” It was actually an awesome option to complete and take a trip the world with no cost to me or my family members,” Casaru mirrors, keeping in mind that the Romanian government covered her expenses. “That’s what maintained me going.
It wasn’t regarding financial incentive but the opportunity to see various other nations and also discover their cultures.”. Staying on the Georgia Tech College school throughout the Olympics stimulated her desire to analyze in the U.S. “There were libraries almost everywhere,” she recalls, “as well as I recognized if I went to school in the States, I can study in them as high as I wanted.” This ambition led her to relocate more than 5,000 miles coming from home to participate in the University of Alabama on a going swimming scholarship, finding both a level and also the possibility to proceed her competitive going swimming job.
“In Romania, I needed to decide on between swimming as well as college. In America, I could perform each.”. Having said that, adjusting to lifespan in the united state confirmed testing for the university freshman.
As well as transitioning coming from a history formed by communism and socialism to navigating United States freedom was complicated. Often believing that an outsider, Casaru struggled with cultural differences up until a basic outing invite linked her along with a vivid community of Romanians in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who “cared for me, became my support system, and also helped me adapt to lifestyle in the States.”. Initially considering to go back to Romania after gaining her service level, a possibility chat with a teammate opened her eyes to the option of seeking an expert’s degree in workout scientific research– an industry virtually void in Eastern Europe.
By the time she finished her expert’s and also doctoral, Casaru had actually invested even more years in the USA than in Romania, motivating her reexamine the complications of returning home. ” People like me aren’t well allowed in my home country due to the fact that I carry advancement, self-reliance, and also critical thinking. Sometimes I am actually viewed as a Romanian along with an American accent or even as British along with a Romanian tone.”.
No matter how she is actually viewed, Casaru describes that she continues to be gotten in between 2 cultures, continually browsing the problem of coming from either. At UWA, Casaru is actually committed to improving the Workout Science program, providing community involvement opportunities for her students, and also working together with associates in the University of Natural Sciences and also Mathematics. She is additionally cultivating a proposal for a new academic degree and also aims to renew the undergraduate educational program by launching specific attentions to assist students center their studies more effectively.
Whatever discipline her trainees opt for, Casaru wants them to realize their potential, typically reminding all of them, “If I may be successful in a country where English is my second language, then whatever obstacles you presume you deal with– it is actually all about modifying your frame of mind as well as advancing.”. Casaru believes that educational institutions, including UWA, need to foster vital thinking skills. In her Guide to Physical exercise Science lesson, she routinely causes pupils to question the commercials they see, talking to, “Why don’t our team view ads for apples, bread, as well as milk but simply for junk food as well as other points our company may certainly not need to have?
I want my pupils to ask on their own: Why am I being supplied this information? Is it pertinent to me? That’s vital thinking.
I prefer my pupils to comprehend that ‘exercise is medication,'” she stresses. Casaru acknowledges that while some in the South may discover her directness discomforting, she desires her students to recognize that she considers all of them young people, not kids. “I know I don’t beat around the bush.
But I prefer my trainees to feel free to speak to me if one thing is actually occurring in their lives or even if they are actually battling. I recognize what it’s like to battle,” she mentions. “But I can not help if I don’t know there’s a problem.
I additionally encourage my pupils to take full advantage of the chances on call with my courses or even this educational institution. As personnel, our function is actually to aid our pupils be successful.”.