A woman from Dartmouth, N.S. now holds the most academic degrees of any woman in history, making her an official world record holder, according to the World Record Academy.
“I have 32 of them,” Dr. Stephanie Attwater said.
But her diplomas and degrees didn’t come easily.
Attwater was involved in a severe car accident 20 years ago, during her first year of university, that resulted in a brain injury. It heightened her risk of being diagnosed with certain types of dementia later in life. In response, she decided to challenge her brain “as a way to exercise it.”
And then her journey began.
“They thought that (20 years ago) as soon as you injured your brain, there was absolutely nothing you can do to come back from that,” she said.
“I was determined to make sure that was not true.”
The first degree Attwater received was a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Biotechnology in May 2004 at the University of Ottawa. Since then, she’s received certifications from several institutions including the University of British Columbia, National University of Medical Sciences, and the London College of Osteopathy Canada.
Attwater’s certificate from the World Record Academy hangs on the wall in her Dartmouth office.
Stephanie Attwater
She said the injuries she sustained from the accident forced her to re-learn how to read, in addition to re-acquiring the know-how of other subjects that she previously excelled in as a child.
“I lost the ability to do math … I really struggled with speaking for a number of years. I still struggle with that. You really notice it when I’m tired,” she said. “You know that thing in your brain that tells you a word is a word when you look at it? That got broke, so, words are just a string of letters. I had to figure out a different way to read.”
Attwater said she perceives her accolades as a “personal triumph” because it strengthens her confidence that she’s recovered from the damaging car accident in her 20s.
Some of the degrees she holds include a master’s in Rehabilitation Science, a bachelor’s in nutrition, and “a lot of psychology.”
Trish McManus, a long-time patient of Attwater’s practice, said she thought “everyone needed to know” about her rehabilitation specialists’ academic achievements. She spent months persuading her to apply for the world record.
“If someone can do all this behind the scenes, still help people in her work as an osteopath … I’m like ‘People need to know this, Stephanie,” McManus said, adding that Attwater’s initial response to the suggestion was that she “didn’t want to bring attention to herself.”
“But what about that little girl that’s out there, that was you? What if there’s a little seven-year-old girl out there somewhere that looks at you and goes ‘But I want to be her someday’. And I said, ‘Is that enough to make you want to put yourself out there?’”
McManus said she was surprised to hear her conversation with Attwater played such an integral role in publicizing her efforts.
Attwater said a key factor that contributed to her certification in a large variety of fields was the amount of overlapping information contained in similar areas of study.
“Most of the time you have to write at least a comprehensive exam to show that you learned the information,” she said. “You can rack up a lot of degrees for pretty cheap with little extra work, especially if you stick with the same school.”
“A lot of my Osteo (therapy) stuff applied to my rehabilitation science masters, there’s a lot of overlap just because I stick with similar fields. The anatomy is anatomy. If you’ve learned anatomy once, there’s not a lot of extra that you need to do with that.”
Attwater now holds PhDs in three different fields of study: Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Osteopathic Clinical Rehabilitation, and Natural Medicine.
Attwater’s Doctor of Philosophy in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation certification.
Stephanie Attwater
But she said she isn’t stopping there. She’s determined to outwit an unlikely competitor — Bruce Banner, the fictional Marvel character also known as The Hulk.
“There was an offhand comment in one of the Avengers movies. Bruce Banner said that he had seven PhDs. So, I am determined now to get eight,” she laughed. “I’m currently finishing a doctor of science and clinical nutrition. My next two are going to be in health, psychology and clinical psychology and then pharmacology.”
When trying to recall a master’s she recently received in the psychological field, the name of the course had slipped her mind as she admitted that occasionally it’s difficult for her to keep track of everything she’s done.
“I’m going to have to look it up, it’s over there in the pile,” she said.
Attwater added the modern accessibility of online courses along with owning her own practice has provided her with the flexibility required to balance her day-to-day work life with constant schooling. However, it hasn’t always been convenient, as she once had to take 18 months off from work to complete a program.
“Sometimes they’re really time-commitment heavy but I can fit my schedule around them especially because I work for myself,” she said. “I’m lucky in that I can control my schedule at work which is nice, and I can take patients in the evening versus during the day If I need to.”
Dr. Stephanie Attwater was involved in a severe car accident 20 years ago, during her first year of university, that resulted in a brain injury.
World Record Academy
She said that she hopes her academic achievements can encourage women worldwide who are considering going back to school to make the jump into the classroom.
“I hope that so many women get inspired by this and go back to school and beat me a million times,” she said. “I think everyone should do grad school, you learn so much about yourself … it’s not for the faint of heart but it completely changes how you think about yourself (and) how you think about other people.”
The 42-year-old said one of the most common questions she receives is about how much student debt she’s accumulated as she endures a daunting pile of schoolwork.
Her answer is one that likely comes as a surprise to many.
“No, now I pay everything off,” she said, mentioning that she initially had some debt for “a little while.”
“The nice thing about doing so many, especially if you stick with the same school, you get ‘frequent flyer discounts’ … you can really find ways to make this affordable.”
Another piece of paper included in Attwater’s collection is shown, this time being her Doctor of Philosophy in Natural Medicine.
Stephanie Attwater
The World Record Academy, which verified Attwater’s academic achievements, is “the largest organization which certifies world records” according to its website. The American-based institution is said to have the strictest rules in its verification process, including requiring most of its applicants to participate in a lie-detector test.
Attwater said she was willing to undergo the polygraph test, but it was determined unnecessary due to the large amount of official documentation associated with her application.
She said she also applied to the Guinness Book of World Records, but the World Record Academy was the first to respond as they specialize in academic achievements.
She admits she isn’t sure what she’ll do after reaching her next PhD-related objectives but is confident that she won’t call it quits on her seemingly never-ending search for knowledge.
“I do not plan on stopping,” she said. “Whenever I’m stressed about anything, school makes sense to me. That organization, the format, it’s a form of stress relief now for me.”
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
