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Four St. Olaf College student-athletes traded their jerseys for lab coats this summer, as they stepped into intensive internships at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. From cancer biology to neuroscience, their work spans some of today’s most pressing medical challenges, but what unites Paige Steenblock ‘26, Rachael Olson ‘26, Marjan Veldic ‘27, and Ashlyn Jore ‘26 is more than just a scientific curiosity — it’s the discipline, resilience, and leadership honed through athletics that helped them thrive in one of the world’s most prestigious medical institutions.

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For Paige Steenblock ‘26, a member of the women’s swim team and a biology major on the pre-med track, the St. Olaf Health Scholars Program at Mayo was a natural next step on her path toward becoming a surgeon. The Northfield native’s two-month internship in the thoracic surgery department focused on esophageal cancer research and shadowing in both clinics and operating rooms. 

“I’ve always loved medicine, and I’ve been obsessed with surgery for as long as I can remember,” Steenblock says. “Getting to intern in a surgical department and have that exposure to actual practice has done nothing but reinforce my passion for this work, and instilled in me the confidence to pursue a career in this field.”

What stood out to Steenblock most was Mayo’s collaborative approach to patient care. 

“I’ve loved getting to see the ins-and-outs of how doctors interact with patients, the role of empathy, and making sure that patients are fully educated on all of their options — the patient is really central to the process of their own healing here,” she says. “Mayo also has an approach that’s very teamwork based, and for me that’s really exciting, because I’m used to working with others in my sport towards a common goal. It felt familiar, just a different setting.”

Her days began at 5:15 a.m., with a swim or lift session before heading to the hospital for chart reviews, study sessions, and mentor shadowing with thoracic surgeon K. Robert Shen. The long hours didn’t faze her. 

“I’m used to having a busy schedule with swimming,” Steenblock says. “I’m also dyslexic, so academics didn’t always come easy to me in high school, and I learned that if I wanted good grades, it required a lot of extra time and effort on my part.”

Steenblock credits her team with supporting her in that endeavor. 

“The swim team has a lot of very academically motivated people, and so after practice and dinner a whole group of us will go to the library,” she says. “It keeps me accountable in a way, as we all have a set routine, and I know I will be doing school work with my friends at a specific time. That work ethic translates directly to other things.”

At St. Olaf, Steenblock is a multiple-time Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) champion in the 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard individual medley.

“What keeps me swimming is the teammates and coaches who motivate me in practice, and for whom I want to do well,” she says. “At the same time, here at St. Olaf I think as much as we want to win, we want to be enjoying ourselves first. For me, swimming is my mental and emotional break from school and the world, and I wouldn’t invest the time in it I do if I didn’t think that it was helping me to be successful.”

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Mathematics major and fellow swimmer Rachael Olson ‘26 saw statistics come alive during her Health Scholars experience. Through the program, she conducted biostatistics research on ovarian cancer under the guidance of Associate Professor of Biostatistics Stacey J. Winham ‘07, exploring how prior diagnoses of breast cancer can affect survival outcomes for women facing ovarian cancer. 

“My research project looked at how a previous diagnosis of breast cancer can actually have a slightly positive impact on the prognosis of an individual who subsequently has ovarian cancer,” Olson says. “The data shows that those people typically live a little longer than those who have not had breast cancer.”

Her internship combined rigorous data analysis with illuminating shadowing opportunities, exposing her to both the technical and human sides of medicine. 

“I’ve been studying patient data all summer, and I enjoyed exercising the knowledge I’ve gained through my statistics and data science concentration, but the most powerful moment came when I saw what those numbers mean in real time,” Olson says. “I shadowed a cardiologist, gynecologist, and breast oncologist over the summer, and being able to watch them get results back, make a diagnosis, and deliver the news — it was just really surreal to see the work in action.”

Balancing the demands of research with the unpredictable nature of floor work felt natural to Olson, who has trained as a swimmer since childhood under her late father’s guidance, and now competes on the St. Olaf Swim Team. 

“My mindset for swimming has always been, ‘I get to go to practice, I get to be on a team, I get to work out,’” she says. “Some days are more difficult than others, but I always try to be grateful for what I have, where I am, and what I’m doing. The same could be said for my internship this summer. In athletics, you’re supposed to take the opportunity you get and run with it, and that’s something that’s drilled into us here as well […] how can we take what we know right now, and use it to get to where we want to be?”

Olson isn’t sure yet what her exact path will be after St. Olaf, but for now she envisions a career that blends statistics with healthcare, possibly in medical imaging. 

“I didn’t expect to leave Mayo considering medicine, but after this summer I definitely want to explore it as an option — it’s haunting me,” she says.

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For chemistry major Marjan Veldic ‘27, science and athletics share a common goal: integrity, empathy, and the drive to help others. As captain of the St. Olaf men’s tennis team, Veldic has actively cultivated these values on the court. This summer at Mayo, he’s had the opportunity to carry those same qualities into his research on addiction disorders. 

“We want to alleviate human suffering,” Veldic says. “Addiction is not a choice, it is not somebody’s fault — it’s a disease that people suffer from. Our work is about uncovering the neurological underpinnings of addiction and associated psychiatric disorders.”

That sense of purpose fuels his long hours in the lab. For Veldic, research is not simply an academic pursuit but a calling — one grounded in both urgency and hope. Each day, he approaches his work with the conviction that new insights could eventually reduce stigma and improve care for people living with addiction.

“It’s really a passion for me,” Veldic explained. “It’s very serious work, and it’s done with care and intent. There’s nothing I’d rather be doing than discovering something that will help someone in pain.” 

Earning the trust of his mentor at Mayo proved deeply rewarding. 

“Seeing my mentor believe in me and give me increasingly more responsibility — that makes me even more motivated,” Veldic says. “It’s one thing for someone to tell you they believe in you. It’s another for them to entrust you with serious responsibilities, even asking your opinion on complex problems.”

Tennis, he added, helped prepare him for the responsibilities of the research environment. 

“Two extremely important things I’ve gained through tennis are empathy and integrity,” Veldic says. “In matches, you learn to win and lose with grace, and because the sport is often self-officiated, you learn the importance of honesty in every call. Those same values guide me in my research — I always approach the work with fairness, humility, and the awareness that my decisions have an impact beyond myself.”

Looking ahead, Veldic says he will let his passion for research guide him, whether that means pursuing a Ph.D., an M.D., or another path. For him, the ultimate purpose remains clear. 

“The main joy in life is helping others,” he says. “Whether as a captain, student, or researcher, I want to be there for others in whatever way I can. I want to contribute to something that resolves suffering, and this internship showed me that I can.”

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When biology and kinesiology major Ashlyn Jore ‘26 arrived at Mayo for a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) in June, she carried with her the mindset she’s honed as a member of the St. Olaf Track and Field team:

“A big thing for me is being intentional about what I’m doing, which is something I really developed through sports,” she says. “When I’m doing track, that means being aware of how I’m feeling, how I’m recovering, how I go about practice. The same goes for schoolwork — when do I get it done, the quality of how I get it done, and the effort I let myself put into it.”

Jore joined Mayo through the Clinical and Translational Science track, working in a lab that studied breast cancer and mammary gland biology. She gained experience with cell cultures, flow cytometry, data analysis and coding with high performance computing, and manuscript preparation. 

“There were a lot of novel discoveries in the lab that were very exciting to come into, and allowed me to have a better understanding of the impact of research,” Jore says. “We were working with a living breast biobank, and I really liked that translational aspect of the work — you’re seeing actual patient samples, so it feels very relevant.”

Her summer wasn’t without its testing points. Much of the work was independent, as most of her labmates were in the middle of preparing their findings for publication. 

“A lot of it was unstructured, which gave me flexibility and freedom in what I wanted to do, but could also be overwhelming,” Jore says. “I had to develop my own timeline and plan for how I wanted to go about my tasks, and I could turn to other interns for support and the graduate students for recommendations.”

That self-direction, she says, mirrors the discipline she’s built through athletics. After taking a break from track her first year, Jore joined the team sophomore year to regain the structure and challenge she missed. 

“Sports really taught me how to push outside my comfort zone,” she says. “As athletes, we’re good at putting ourselves in uncomfortable positions and moving through it.”

Jore’s application to the Mayo fellowship was motivated by her work with Assistant Professor of Kinesiology Jenny Miller, who introduced her to research with aging adults and even took her team to conduct VO2 max testing on the Minnesota Timberwolves. Now, Jore is preparing graduate school applications with the goal of pursuing a Ph.D. 

“An even bigger goal is eventually becoming an educator,” she says. “Research is important, but being able to share knowledge in an accessible way is really what motivates me.”

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Whether in the pool, on the court, or at the meet, these four Oles are forging a path defined by curiosity, compassion, and commitment. Their experiences at Mayo Clinic are not just stepping stones to future careers in healthcare — they are proof that the habits of student athletes can fuel meaningful impact far beyond the playing field.