Convocation Spotlight: Kora Park, BSc Kinesiology

Kora Park

Kora Park was born in South Korea and has lived in a variety of interesting international destinations — including Kazakhstan, Sudan and Saudi Arabia — throughout her young life. But when it came time to choose a place to go for university, Kora was ready for an adventure on the only continent she had yet to discover — North America. Her passion for diversity led her here, to the University of Alberta, where she knew the campus community reflected the multiethnicity of the broader Canadian population. Today, having completed her bachelor of science in kinesiology, Kora is embarking on a new journey in another new destination, starting a full-time job as a kinesiologist in Red Deer.

Kora didn’t arrive in Alberta intending to join the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation. In fact, her first year was spent at Camrose’s Augustana campus studying business economics. But as the year progressed and she learned more about what the university had to offer, she discovered the perfect fit in kinesiology and transferred over. “I was always interested in body image and how that relates to exercise and well-being,” she says. “But I had never heard of a kinesiology degree until I got here, and once I heard about it I knew it could help me explore my interests in weight stigma and how it relates to fitness.” 

Kora believes strongly in applying a holistic lens to the study of obesity and overweight. Too many health professionals ascribe obesity and overweight to very one-dimensional causes, such as eating too much or not exercising enough, she says. She believes that being active is key for people who may be struggling with negative body image, but she also knows how complex the reasons for that struggle can be — from psychological to physical to environmental. “There are more than 230 causes of obesity,” says Kora, “and I want to be able to be someone who can provide a safe place for people dealing with those issues.”

Kora came into her kinesiology degree with an interest in these issues, but it wasn’t till her fourth year that she was able to dive deeply into them, thanks to the arrival of a new professor. Taniya Nagpal is a researcher who focuses on the relationship between psychosocial factors such as weight stigma during pregnancy and health behaviours such as physical exercise. And her arrival presented the perfect opportunity for Kora, who immediately asked Nagpal to help her with a directed study on weight stigma in East Asian populations.

“I’m from that area, so I wanted to learn more about that,” explains Kora. During their scoping review, she found that while not much research had been done, the studies that had been completed showed weight stigma had negative impacts on people’s level of exercise, their eating habits and their mental health.  

While Kora had little experience with research prior to this project, she is proud that she was able to put together an impressive poster presentation for last year’s Festival of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (FURCA), coming away with the Outstanding International Student Researcher award. She also left with a new perspective on research, and a clearer picture of her academic future. “Many people assume research is quite daunting, but really, I realized it just starts with a little curiosity,” she says. “I always thought I might want to do graduate studies some day, but this study helped me figure out my focus for a possible future master’s degree.”

Kora is excited about her future — possibly as an exercise physiologist specializing in bariatrics, or possibly going to graduate school — but today she is savouring the good memories from her time at the U of A.

“There are lots of international students at the U of A,” she says. “I’ve met people from various countries, including Canadians — who introduced me to the important Canadian things, like poutine and hockey!” Kora enjoyed working as a wellness recreation facilitator, planning activities such as winter walks, paint nights, RecRecess and other gatherings to help introduce international students to Canadian culture and to provide ways to reduce stress.

She also fondly remembers a challenging yet rewarding second-year course with a community service learning component that involved working at the Steadward Centre, prescribing exercise to people with physical disabilities. “At that time I didn’t know a lot about exercise yet and I didn’t feel confident,” she remembers, “and I thought at first that it was going to be the most difficult task I’ve ever had. But I developed a rapport with my client, it got much better and I developed a lot of confidence in exercising with clients.”

While figuring out how to manage her time was a challenge at first, Kora stresses that no matter how busy she got while pursuing her degree, she tried to make time to exercise. “Physical activity is important for helping people with chronic diseases — but it improves all of our lives.” 

Kora highly recommends the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation and has nothing but happy memories of feeling supported and welcomed there. “It’s such a nice small faculty, which made it much easier to make connections. When I felt lonely, stressed or burnt out, it helped so much knowing there was a community of people I had strong connections with,” she says.

Kora will be hard at work at her new job, so she won’t be able to attend convocation. But she isn’t disappointed. She’s focused on her bright future. “I’m looking forward to living in a new city and meeting new people, and I’m really looking forward to learning more about where this degree can take me.”