{"id":52102,"date":"2011-12-13T11:46:47","date_gmt":"2011-12-13T16:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=52102"},"modified":"2023-06-27T13:14:48","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:14:48","slug":"academics-and-dance-drew-student-to-storrs-from-down-under","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2011\/12\/academics-and-dance-drew-student-to-storrs-from-down-under\/","title":{"rendered":"Academics and Dance Drew Student to Storrs from Down Under"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Casey<\/a>
Casey Jessop, an Australian exchange student and member of the UConn Dance Team, at a practice in the Student Union. (Max Sinton '15 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Casey Jessop had plenty of top-notch universities to choose from when it came time to study abroad. Her home institution, the University of Melbourne, is a member of Universitas 21, an international network of leading research-intensive universities, and has exchange opportunities in 13 different countries, including the UK, China, Singapore, Sweden, and the U.S.<\/p>\n

Of the two American universities that are part of the U21 network, Jessop chose UConn because of its location, academics, and the Dance Team.<\/p>\n

Now in her junior year, Jessop will graduate with a degree in marine science \u2013 a major she\u2019s decided upon because of her experience at UConn.<\/p>\n

Before arriving at UConn, she was equally attracted to zoology and marine sciences. \u201cI\u2019d thought marine science was very specific,\u201d she says. \u201cUConn has made me realize I definitely want to do marine sciences and marine biology, and that I might like to go into research.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says her favorite class is parasitology. \u201cThe professor who teaches it, Janine Caira, is amazing; she\u2019s made me aware of the broad spectrum of areas I could research.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I know I could do marine science with parasitology from the ocean,\u201d she adds. \u201cThere\u2019s more ocean than land at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jessop is used to lecture-based instruction in her home country. \u201cSo this is the professor at the front of the room, he\u2019s got a big projector and he usually doesn\u2019t know your name,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The UConn Dance Team practices in the Student Union. (Max Sinton '15 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She says the classes she has taken at UConn are more personal: \u201cI\u2019ve thoroughly enjoyed my classes here; you get enough guidance from the professors to do well. The heavier workload at UConn means I\u2019m always learning new things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jessop has also learned first hand about UConn\u2019s inimitable school spirit as one of 21 members of the Dance Team, performing at all home and away football games. The team dances at all of the men\u2019s and women\u2019s home basketball games, too, and will compete in April at the National Dance Alliance Nationals in Daytona Beach, Fla. These spring semester opportunities clinched Jessop\u2019s decision to extend her exchange \u2013 initially for the fall semester only \u2013 to the end of the academic year.<\/p>\n

\"Casey<\/a>
Casey Jessop and a teammate practice in the Student Union. (Max Sinton '15 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cObviously I love dancing and was part of a club of six dancers back home, but it was nothing like Huskymania,\u201d Jessop says. \u201cBack home we look up to U.S. college dancers. I thought it would be amazing to be on UConn\u2019s Dance Team \u2013 but I wasn\u2019t sure if I was good enough. When I got here I thought I might as well look into it since I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s coach agreed to give Jessop an audition, as she was still in Australia at the time of the regular tryouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said \u2018I\u2019m an exchange student \u2013 I have this experience. Any chance I could be part of the team?\u2019\u201d says Jessop. \u201cThe coach asked a few other questions, said \u2018It was lovely to meet you,\u2019 and we went from there. I\u2019m very privileged \u2013 and lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During a semester at UConn, Australian exchange student Casey Jessop has decided on a major in marine sciences and received an education in Huskymania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":51784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[43],"class_list":["post-52102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-28 14:08:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52102"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52458,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52102\/revisions\/52458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/51784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52102"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=52102"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=52102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}