The University of the Fraser Valley athletic department is pleased to introduce
Shivohn Peters as the recipient of the Jen Simpson Memorial Leadership Award.
The award recognizes leadership in three areas: On an athletic team, in the community, and in academics and involvement at UFV. The award honours the memory of Cascades rower Jen Simpson, who died tragically in a car accident in 2008 at the age of 20. Her parents and friends have established this annual award in her name.
Peters served as president of the UFV rowing club during the 2019-20 season, providing the program with consistency and stability during a period where the club was without a head coach. The kinesiology student from Terrace, B.C. wrote a year-long training plan for the club, and recruited a group of alumni to serve as coaches and to provide external support – all while maintaining her own training. Thanks to Peters's efforts, the club was able to create a positive environment for its student-athletes.
We caught up with Peters for a Q&A to reflect on her athletic career and what winning this award means to her.
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Tell us about your journey from Terrace, B.C. to the rowing program at UFV.
"I wanted to go into kinesiology, so I looked at a whole bunch of different programs. What brought me to UFV was, it's a smaller university. My hometown has something like 15,000 people – it's fairly small. The idea of going to UBC kind of terrified me because it's really big. That's what drew me to UFV as a school in general.
"And then the rowing program, I was on the Chilliwack campus and just randomly saw a poster: 'If you're tall and athletic, come check us out!' I thought it sounded interesting – I've done sports all my life. I did track and field and volleyball throughout junior high, and a little bit into high school. I played basketball since I was in Grade 3. I also did alpine skiing as a kid, until I hurt myself too much – I crashed a couple times, almost tore both of my ACLs. I decided instead of doing a couple knee replacements by the time I'm 20, maybe I should stop!
"I wasn't really involved yet (at UFV) and didn't know a lot of people in the Fraser Valley, so I went out and tried rowing, fell in love with the sport, and it's continued since then. I was a novice rower my first year at university (2017-18), and varsity last year as well as this year."
It's been a year of transition for the Cascades rowing program, as longtime head coach Liz Chisholm retired in the spring of 2019. What has it been like to navigate this as a member of the club executive?
"For the club in general, it's been a difficult transition. We had some coaching issues in the fall which resulted in us not being able to compete at regional or national-level competitions. Going into the winter, we didn't really have a coach, so as a kinesiology student and part of our executive board, I helped step up and point us in a direction for our training. And thankfully, some of our alumni who have quite a bit of experience in rowing have come back to help us coach. They're doing an amazing job.
"In the fall, our varsity team was able to put on our Learn-to-Row program again. We had a great turnout for that, and we got three really strong novices out of the program. That's always a great plus."
How did you find time to get everything done – working a part-time job, going to university, training as an athlete, and then playing a huge part in running the rowing club?
"Essentially, from 4:30 in the morning when I get up until – and this is going to sound really lame – my 8:00 or 8:30 p.m. bedtime, I don't really stop moving. I'm always on the go, always multi-tasking. If I have a moment, it's not going to be a wasted moment. If I'm having lunch, I'm having lunch and studying. Or if I'm driving, I'll be listening to audio lectures.
"It's about using the amount of time I have between 4:30 and 8:30 to get as much stuff as I can done within that time period, while also making sure I'm getting enough sleep. That's one mistake I made in my first year (of university) – I was like, 'I don't need to sleep, I'll be fine.' Nooooooo. That's not how life works, unfortunately. You do need to sleep.
"And lots of caffeine. Caffeine helps."
Talking to your teammates about you, they described you as a natural helper who is the first to volunteer for tasks that others don't necessarily want to do. That's an incredible character quality – how did you develop it? Are there role models in your life who helped teach you the value of volunteering?
"I'm not sure if it's something that's developed or something I've always had. I've always had a need to help other people. I have an issue with not doing stuff – if I'm not being useful, it bothers me. I always want to be useful and helpful in some way. No matter what circumstance I'm in, I'm always trying to find something that needs to get done and doing it. It's been my general attitude towards life.
"I've had a lot of different coaches who have helped mold me into that, but I don't know if I've had one specific role model. It's an accumulation of all the different coaches and my parents and the school and community I've lived in.
"One major group I've worked with is
Interact through Rotary. They're really into humanitarian work and helping, and that's been a major part of my life. That's definitely one of the aspects that's contributed."
I understand you're an outdoorsy person. What are your favourite outdoor activities?
"I love rowing outside – it's a lot more fun than inside!
(Laughs) But yeah, I do really enjoy hiking and camping. I always went camping as a child – that was just our thing that we always did as a family. This past summer I was able to go hammock camping over the summer – that was really fun. I went up to Eden Lake, past Hope a little bit.
"And as a kid, I did a lot of skiing, and I've just had a natural longing for being outside. Coming from Terrace, it's surrounded by mountains, so if you want to do anything, you kind of had to be outside."
The rowing club holds an annual memorial row for Jen Simpson on the anniversary of her death. What do you know about Jen in terms of her legacy that's been handed down over the years within the program, and what does it mean to you to be connected to an award named after her?
"The stories I've heard from people who were around the program closer to when she was here (at UFV) are about what a dedicated athlete she was – and dedicated in general, no matter what aspect of life, whether it was sports, leadership, or being involved in the community.
"I feel really honoured to be awarded this memorial award, because a lot of her attributes I've heard about from other people are things I want to try for – to be a leader in the community, to always be helping, and to be dedicated to sports and community life."
