Cougars’ Aliya Jomha recognized for academic excellence

Cougars women's hockey player Aliya Jomha spent the first half of 2023 bringing home the hardware.

A member of the National Championship-winning women's hockey team, Jomha also excelled in the classroom, earning a Research and Scholarship Days award and the Mount Royal University Library Group Research Excellence Award.

A second-year Bachelor of Arts — Psychology student, Jomha won the Research and Scholarship Days award in April for her "'You've Got A Friend in Me': Does Peer Support Help With Depression?" poster presentation. Her research was a systematic review of 15 studies that explored how effective peer support intervention can be for youth with depression.

For the Group Research Excellence Award, Jomha and research partner Paige Torry collaborated on a paper titled: 'When Standard Treatments Are Not Enough: Non-Invasive Neurostimulation for Treatment Resistant Depression.'

The project was inspired by Torry's trip to Mathison-Littmann Research Day in March.

"It was about the time that I was actually at Nationals playing hockey," Jomha said of when they decided on the topic. "[Torry] had attended the Mathison-Littmann Day, which is a huge day for people in the mental health community. There are lots of papers and posters and people to talk to and meet. She saw some stuff on transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and treatment… and felt that it was really interesting."

"So it kind of just sparked, and we decided to do it that way."

Finding time for her academics while succeeding on the ice has become second nature for the now third-year forward. Jomha proved to be a key piece of Mount Royal's U SPORTS Championship squad, finishing second on the team in goals (12) and points (31) and third in assists (19).

"I've been playing high-level hockey for quite a while now. So time management was just something that wasn't a choice. You just had to be on top of everything," she said of navigating a busy schedule. "My parents never pushed me too hard, but it was an expectation that academically you do just as well athletically.

"So I think that I just kind of ran with that. And now that I've found my passion, it's easy because I love it. I enjoy studying. I enjoy learning just as much as I enjoy being on the ice."

Before things get fired back up at Mount Royal for the fall, Jomha has spent the past few months working at the University of Calgary under Dr. Alexander McGirr. 

"I've had the pleasure of working with him, trying to get some other papers published, around the same topic of people with depression and how do we implement this intervention to make their symptoms not as burdensome," she said of the experience at McGirr lab. 

When she does return to Mount Royal in September, Jomha looks to continue building on her achievements. With a long-term goal of getting into graduate school for clinical psychology, she is set to take some advanced courses this fall and hopes to go into the psychology honours program. 

As for being back with her Cougars teammates, Jomha will be a part of a new-look Mount Royal squad and try to carry on the culture established in the locker room. She cited the team's ability to come together and have fun as part of their success in 2023 and something they can carry into this upcoming season.

"When we were enjoying it, when we were loose on the bench but engaged and involved — it's so cliche, but when you're enjoying it, the wins just come," she said. "We had some great leaders on that team, but I think that people are really going to step up and know how to have a good time while also working hard, creating good habits, learning and teaching each other and respecting one another as teammates and as players."