Growing up in Canada, people get to watch hockey, eat pizza in McDonalds and use the term “eh” at the end of a statement to make it a question. Yet rarely do people encounter a sea-turtle-saving, double-majoring volleyball player.Unless, that is, you walk around the Guilford College campus where you notice Canadian Jennifer Pue-Gilchrist.
Jennifer recently won ODAC player of the week awards in volleyball during back-to-back weeks, proving she is a dominant force. But, rather than take all the accolades with a confident air, she brushes them aside to talk about her love for her teammates.
“This year is so much fun,” she says. “We have got a great dynamic. I love my teammates; they are great.”
Jennifer’s mother, Brenda Pue, has been watching her daughter for 20 years now, and she believes that “what sets [Jennifer] apart is her dedication and willingness to work for the team.”
Working for the betterment of the team entails a lot of self-sacrifice.
Maybe that same inner drive pushes Jennifer, a biology and health sciences double major, to save injured animals. She works summers at Topsail Island, North Carolina, helping to save turtles that have been hit by boat pro-pellers or attacked by other animals, some even injured by people.
She plans to dedicate herself, by becoming an emergency veterinarian, to the prevention of death or further injury to animals that many humans consider less than worthy of such attention. For that reason, our world will be thankful.
Her dedication and commitment to excellence have, however, made her a bit of a perfectionist. Something at which she believes she has gotten better.
“I’ve made that transition to not being a perfectionist,” she said.
Her coach agrees.
“[Jennifer’s] putting up quality numbers match in, match out…,” Coach Chuck McCracken said. “She’s increased the depth of her understanding of the game. As a part of that process, she’s not lowered expectations of herself, but she’s come to be comfortable with the fact that she makes mistakes.”
At the same time, the perfectionist wiggles its way out. Jennifer expects great things of herself and her teammates.
“She’s set me straight,” junior transfer Emma Juncadella said. “She’s just willing to take that leadership role. But, she’s never mean about it.”
Many agree that she lacks such a mean streak.
“[Jennifer] has a kind heart,” her mother said, adding, “but, she has a broken body.”
Jennifer has broken her nose three times, cracked two ribs, and had arthroscopic knee surgery. But she continues on.
Coach McCracken talks about Jennifer’s first collegiate competition in which she hustled after a stray ball and in saving it, planted her nose into the ground, breaking it. But, she got back up and continued to play without anyone realizing what happened.
That is not the only adventure Jennifer has had. “When she was one and a half years old, she went missing in the house…,” her mother said. “She had crawled up into her closet and fell asleep in some boxes.”
Now, Jennifer is leaping out of that box that she once crawled into, shoving her head out of her shell, and making a life for herself.