West Virginia Universitys Jessica Oswald personifies coolas in the laid-back surfer kind of cool. That label makes sense because she just happens to be a national and world wakesurfing champion.
She has equally impressive moves out of the water. Behind the killer tricks is a serious student who is as stoked about becoming a physician as she is about catching a gnarly wave.
Some of the 23-year-olds latest accomplishments have had nothing to do with sports. She wrapped up her final semester of graduate study at WVU and will be getting her masters degree in public health this weekend. She plans to attend medical school, with the goal of becoming a doctor in emergency medicine.
Oswald and fellow student John Failing were also one of two teams to win WVU s Statewide Student Business Plan Competition, sponsored by the College of Business and EconomicsEntrepreneurship Center. They pitched an online program, BetOnWeightLoss.com, that uses money as a motivator for healthy weight loss (http://www.be.wvu.edu/news_events/businessplan/08winners.htm).
If that isnt cool enough, Oswald grew up in Haleiwa, Hawaii, northwest of Honolulu. While other kids were playing video games and riding bikes for fun, she was learning how to surf at the age of 12. She competed in her first pro contest at 18.
A natural at water sports, she made the transition to wakesurfing about five years ago when she was asked to review the sport for a magazine.
I ride behind an Epic Wakeboat that has 4,000 pounds of stock ballast,said Oswald, who is known for her aggressive surf-style riding, power turns and precision tricks.It creates a large continuous wave that I ride with a surfboard ropeless. Its like surfing without the scare of sharks, heckling of crowds and waiting for the perfect wave.
Since picking up her first board, Oswald has been on the ride of her life, winning the 2004 and 2006 Womens World Wakesurfing Championship.
And even though shes been dividing her time between wakesurfing and studying for the past couple of years, she maintains a steady training regimen of trampoline work, skating and practice at Cheat Lakejust outside Morgantownto keep up her endurance.
In 2007, Oswald won first place in the womens open division and second in long board at Nationals. She also took third in womens open at the world competition and has been a snowboarding/surfing combined national champion.
While Morgantown may seem like an unlikely place for a pro wakesurfer to hang out, Oswald said she was attracted to WVU in large part because of its emphasis on rural health care. WVU s School of Medicine was recognized as one of the top 10 med schools in the country for rural medicine in U.S. News&World Reports 2009 edition ofAmericas Best Graduate Schools.
She was also drawn to faculty mentors like Dr. Robert Pack and Ruth Kershner, who work in the Department of Community Medicine.
Dr. Pack is my adviser and has helped me tremendously in school and with my medical school applications,Oswald said.Ruth Kershner advises the Community Medicine Student Association and is very easy to talk to, always putting students first.
Oswald is undecided about which medical school to attend, but wherever she goes, she plans to continue wakesurfing and hopes to regain her world title.