Student-athletes have a lot to balance in their day-to-day lives. They have practices, classes, recovery and treatments, exams, games and meets, career fairs, seminars, and more that creates a busy experience for them.
Presenting at the second-largest public health summit in the world, however, isn't something a student-athlete typically gets to do, but Lilly Kasra made it happen back in November of 2023.
"It's very hard to go, especially as a student," Kasra explained when asked about the rigor of the application process. "These are projects I did at 19 and 20 [years old], and it's kind of unheard of for an American to get accepted. My mentor, Dr. Nazarich, had been accepted the year before, so we thought, 'let's see if we can do this together.'"
Kasra presented two projects that she and her mentor had worked on while in Ireland, one project titled "Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a community-based egg program in rural Honduras," and the other titled "Exploring facilitators for breastfeeding among Irish mothers: a systematic literature review."
"The agricultural program that my mentor, Dr. Anna Palacios, started in Honduras was an egg program where we provide one egg a day to children under 24 months old," Kasra explained. "Basically, we track to see if their overall health improves, and the big picture idea is to combat the malnourishment happening in that country."
Kasra goes on to explain her involvement in the first project, saying "I got the task of transcribing a bunch of stuff from Spanish to English, so essentially interviews. Then, I analyzed those and created a qualitative analysis, like the research shows. It's more word-based, based on the mothers of their children's experiences with the program, so we got to learn their experiences and what came out of that."
Her second project came from an opportunity thanks to Georgia Southern's APEX program, when she traveled to Wexford as part of Eagles Worldwide.
"I got to work with another one of my mentors, who is now one of my closest mentors and supervisors, Dr. Susiana Nazaruk. We went there [Wexford] for a seemingly normal class project, and the more we learned and researched, the more I started to have something click inside of me. I thought that this [the stigma around breastfeeding in Ireland] was a real issue in this country, something that people did not really talk about."
Kasra said that she thought about this topic more as the 2022-23 swim season happened, and then decided to do something about it.
"Something hit over winter break of that year, and I just emailed her [Dr. Nazaruk]. I said that I had this crazy idea, what if we made this research topic a real thing? Luckily for me, she was so supportive, she said the worst that I could get was more experience. So, I gave myself the nearly impossible task of putting together this entire research project by myself, with no one helping me. She just came to supervise and look it over, which I am very grateful for, because none of this would have happened without her, but at the end of the day, it was me doing everything."
So how did both of these projects make it to Dublin for the European Public Health Conference? As Kasra puts it, it was another "crazy idea."
"I emailed her back and said that I had another crazy idea, what if we submit both of these projects to the EPH Conference? We submitted both and found out in June that both were accepted. The limit is three, and the odds and statistics of even getting two projects accepted are extremely low."
Kasra also explains how these opportunities almost did not happen at all with how nervous she was with her application, but she is thankful she was motivated to submit her APEX application to Georgia Southern.
"I actually deleted my Eagles Worldwide application the night it was due," she joked. "I doubted myself, but it took a few other student-athletes to ask why was I scared of it? I had come this far in my athletic career; one essay was not going to hurt me. So, I gave myself a shot, put together my application, and got to the first round of interviews while we [the swimming team] were at conference."
After her first interview, she moved to an oral presentation where she had to present some of her ideas to athletics staff in a meeting room.
"It felt like there were 60 people in there," she explained. "But I started by handing everyone a piece of paper and sort of tricked them with a point I was trying to make, and it worked. Jared [Benko] ended up loving it and told my teammates how good I was."
What helped Kasra so much during these processes? She attributes a lot of her skills and abilities to the APEX program, whether it was the career tours or the seminars.
"Getting accepted for the Atlanta Career Tour really catapulted my public speaking," she said. "I already had some background in it, but to be put in that uncomfortable of a situation and learning how to talk and even dress, it helps. The career tours are an opportunity to test things out and there aren't any real repercussions."
Kasra has also done her fair share of promoting the program while overseas, even if people in Europe have never heard of Georgia Southern.
"Even when I was in Ireland, I would always mention APEX. People overseas are always asking, 'what are you talking about,' but it's cool to say I'm an athlete and it motivates athletes to go into the world and make an image for themselves."
So, what advice does Lilly have for those who might be on the fence for the APEX program? It's simple advice, but very effective.
"I link it back to what I was told, but I would say that you've come this far, you've been so brave and bold to do this much, what's an essay going to do? And if they say no, so what? Rejection is redirection. Keep your essay to use for something later, tailor it to whatever you need it for, but just give yourself a chance. Don't look at the big picture yet, just focus on the baby steps."
As of writing, Kasra is currently set to finish her master's degree in Spring 2025, and she plans to continue her academic journey by pursuing a PhD in International Health. She will also continue the development of her social marketing campaign to advocate for breastfeeding in Ireland.
You can see Kasra and the rest of the Georgia Southern swimming team this Saturday, January 27, against the North Florida Ospreys. The meet is set to kick-off at 11 a.m. from the Aquatics Center at the RAC.