{"id":9681,"date":"2018-03-27T15:53:18","date_gmt":"2018-03-27T19:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/?p=9681"},"modified":"2018-03-27T15:53:18","modified_gmt":"2018-03-27T19:53:18","slug":"student-spotlight-lindsay-holdcroft-21-giving-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/2018\/student-spotlight-lindsay-holdcroft-21-giving-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Spotlight: Lindsay Holdcroft \u201921\u2014Giving Back"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lindsay
Lindsay Holdcroft '21 with the U12 girls' hockey team she coaches for the Hanover Hockey Association.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many of Lindsay Holdcroft\u2019s (D \u201914 MED \u201921) favorite memories of growing up in Pittsburgh, PA, revolve around playing sports, especially hockey. Part of a close-knit, athletic family,<\/em> it was natural for her to get an early start.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in the middle (age-wise) between two brothers, so that was always a lot of fun growing up\u2014when my older brother started playing hockey, that made me really want to play, as well,\u201d recalls the first-year Geisel student, who started skating at age two and joined her first team (coached by her dad) at age eight.<\/p>\n

When no one signed up to play goalie, Holdcroft, who had some experience with the position, was quick to volunteer. \u201cMy older brother used to put me in street hockey equipment in our driveway and would just fire the street hockey pucks at me\u2014I really liked it,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

But her dad, who wanted all of the kids to try it, was hesitant. \u201cI remember him saying, \u2018You don\u2019t want to be the goalie,\u201d and I was like, \u2018Yeah, I think I really do,\u2019\u201d she says, laughing. \u201cAfter that, he couldn\u2019t say \u2018no.\u2019 We got some used goalie equipment, and I even slept with my goalie glove.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she grew older, Holdcroft\u2019s talent, skill, and passion for the position more than compensated for her relatively small size (5\u2019 4\u201d) and allowed her to stand out in what was then a predominately male sport. While at North Allegheny Senior High School, she played two years of varsity boys\u2019 hockey\u2014starting as goaltender and earning many accolades as one of the top female athletes in the Pittsburgh area. She also competed in cross country and spring track while at Allegheny and excelled in the classroom.<\/p>\n

Holdcroft\u2019s interest in science and medicine began early; she initially wanted to be a veterinarian. \u201cWe always had animals growing up, so that was something I was really drawn to,\u201d she says. \u201cLater, my interest shifted more to becoming a physician, because of the opportunity I felt it would give me to work with people and develop relationships with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she had a strong desire to play hockey at the next level, Holdcroft\u2019s approach through the college recruiting process was to \u201cfind a place that felt like the best fit for me academically, and then if hockey worked out that would be great,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

Her decision to attend Dartmouth College as a student-athlete ended up working out beautifully. While she chose a premed track with a dual major in biology and psychology, Holdcroft fully enjoyed her liberal arts classes, following her parents\u2019 advice to keep her options open. But an internship experience during her junior year\u2014working with patients in recovery education at the Johns\u2019 Hopkins Adult Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program in Baltimore, MD\u2014affirmed her desire to pursue medicine.<\/p>\n

During her time at Dartmouth, Holdcroft also had a stellar career on the ice for the Big Green women\u2019s hockey team. By the end of her senior year, she ranked first in program history in games played, minutes played and saves, while finishing near the top all-time in wins, save percentage, goals-against average, and shutouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an amazing four years\u2014I had wonderful teammates and coaches and learned so much,\u201d she says. \u201cWhile hockey was a huge time commitment, it definitely complemented my Dartmouth experience, and it helped me develop skills in key areas like time management and leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of applying to medical schools immediately after graduating, Holdcroft decided to pursue a job in research, landing a position at Dartmouth\u2019s Thayer School of Engineering. \u201cI wanted to take a break from being a student for a while and gain some experience in a new area that would also help inform my medical career,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Working in the joint retrieval program at the Dartmouth Biomedical Engineering Center at Thayer, she collaborated with surgeons, manufacturers, researchers, and patients to help determine why some artificial joints fail. \u201cIt\u2019s an incredible program that really serves as an early warning system for the industry, while providing information on how they can be designed to work better in patients,\u201d explains Holdcroft, who got to conduct research projects evaluating plastic and metal components used in hip implants.<\/p>\n

After three years away from school, she felt excited and ready to be a student again. \u201cGeisel was a place I really wanted to be\u2014from everything I\u2019d heard and learned at Dartmouth, I thought it would be a very collaborative and supportive place to go to medical school,\u201d she says. \u201cSo far, it\u2019s definitely fulfilled all those expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also important to her was the opportunity to participate in Geisel\u2019s Rural Health Scholars<\/a> program. \u201cHaving lived in the Upper Valley for the last seven years, I\u2019m very interested in the healthcare challenges that rural communities face, especially in behavioral health,\u201d says Holdcroft, who can see herself practicing as a rural community physician in New Hampshire or Vermont someday, perhaps in primary care or psychiatry.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Lindsay Holdcroft '21 takes a break from hiking at Mt. Rainer in Washington.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her favorite activities outside the classroom include trail running, hiking, and coaching youth hockey. \u201cSince I stopped playing hockey here, I\u2019ve been coaching a U12 (ages 10-12) team for the Hanover Hockey Association,\u201d says Holdcroft, who has also conducted goalie clinics for the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I wasn\u2019t sure I would enjoy coaching. Some people say it makes them miss playing. But I\u2019ve really loved it, especially working with this age group\u2014the girls are so receptive and enthusiastic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of fun teaching them skills and seeing them improve,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd it\u2019s been rewarding to see them develop and gain confidence in themselves, both on and off the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First-year Geisel student Lindsay Holdcroft has been coaching youth girls\u2019 hockey since finishing her career as a standout goalie for the Big Green in 2014. \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of fun teaching them skills and seeing them improve, and it\u2019s been rewarding to see them develop and gain confidence in themselves, both on and off the ice,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":9683,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,1],"tags":[827,544,56,847,257],"class_list":["post-9681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-news","tag-community-engagement","tag-first-year-student","tag-hockey","tag-home-feature","tag-student-spotlight","author-26"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/03\/lindsay_holdcroft-nc1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4r3h1-2w9","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9681"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9691,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9681\/revisions\/9691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}