Jessica Kathryn Burgard – Health and Physical Education, 2000

Jessica Kathryn Burgard

Health and Physical Education, Class of 2000

            I grew up in and outside of New Orleans and graduated from Archbishop Chapelle in Metairie, Louisiana in 1993.  In high school, I played on the tennis team for one year, but most of my sport participation was outside of school.  I coached and participated in a spring  board diving team at the community club near my house in River Ridge, and  played around with various other sports, such as track, volleyball, swimming, weight training, and water skiing.  I chose USL for a variety of reasons:  My parents graduated from USL, it was TWO  hours away from home, and I was particularly attracted to Cypress Lake, the  University’s infamous alligator embellished swamp.

              I started  out as a business major because of my nifty knack with numbers; however, I felt lost and out of place.  I switched to Health and Physical  Education my second semester for no other reason than my love for sports and  children.  I soon realized there was no other major for me; summers off, paid to play sports, and the strict tennis shoe uniform had my name all over it.  I fell in love with the faculty and staff   in my college immediately.  They were positive, excited, and interested in helping me.  One particular professor, Dr. Dugas, went to such great lengths to help me in my time of need that I adopted him as my advisor before I met my real one.

In May 1995, while doing service hours in the office for Ms. Carolyn Broussard, the HPER secretary, I got to know many of the HPE professors fairly well.  In December I decided it was time for a change.  I packed my bags and moved to Lake Tahoe, California.  I only planned to be gone for one semester, but I was surprised at the responses from the teachers at Bourgeois Hall.  Ms. Joe Charles was particularly disgusted with this decision.  While I was away, I picked up a variety of new sports which I had no idea were so much fun, including snow boarding, mountain biking, hiking, and wake boarding.  I tried a semester at the University of Reno, Nevada, but would have had to start over as a freshman, so I stayed another summer and fall in Tahoe, then moved back home to finish school.

When I returned in January 1997, it was as if I’d never been gone.  The teachers recognized me, but couldn’t exactly place why.  I remember one teacher looked at me and said “Nice haircut” as if I’d just gotten it yesterday.

My interest has changed from the physical side of my major to the health side.  Living in California opened my eyes to a completely  different Sportsman’s Paradise.  I am more focused on the nutritional, environmental, and personal health issues and would like to one day  teach topics in these areas either in the peace corps, or a school setting of some type.  My plans after graduation are not to start  teaching, but to continue to broaden my horizons.  I would like to work for some type of bike tour company and get paid to ride my bike around the world with tourists.  I would also like to work at a recreation camp with children, and I plan to do much traveling for a while  before I decide to settle down and get a teaching job.

My involvements with USL, Tri Sigma, the Health and Physical Education Majors Club, and my brief encounter with photography (I took some of the pictures you see on the CD for the College of Education Academic Showcase) have heightened my experience in ways I will never forget.  Most of all, I honestly believe that if it weren’t for the professors in my major, I would not be graduating from this University.  They have put back into teaching what is so often lost and that is the ability to form a community within the school that cares about a purpose and is willing to work for it.  I am glad I came back to USL to finish, although I can’t wait to leave in May 2000 when I plan to graduate!!!