BEHIND THIS SMILE FEATURING REBECCA NYQUIST

Feb. 8, 2016

The Princeton Perspective Project is hosting its first conversation event in Behind This Smile: A Conversation Series. We are pleased to collaborate with Rebecca Nyquist '09 who will be discussing grit and resilience, particularly as these characteristics relate to the lives of student athletes. Behind this smile, I am feeling overwhelmed with my commitments to my team, my academics, and my friends.


Rebecca graduated from Princeton University in 2009, where she was a member of the Varsity Women's Swimming Team and competed as a member of Princeton's Ivy League Championship Team. After Princeton, Rebecca went on to teach in various school settings for five years. Most recently, she taught at the Lawrenceville School, a private boarding school in New Jersey, while earning her master's in education from Penn. At Lawrenceville, she continued to fuel her passion for swimming by serving as the head coach for the Varsity Women's Swimming Team and the assistant coach for the Varsity Women's Water Polo Team. Interested in the qualities and habits of mind that produce successful students and athletes, Rebecca left the classroom and the pool deck to learn more about the psychology of achievement and human flourishing. Currently, she is a full time research coordinator at UPenn's Positive Psychology Center, where she coordinates studies focused on the development of grit, self-control, and mindfulness. She is most interested in the the ways focus and attention can be developed through mindfulness practices, as well as the impact of these practices on things like resilience, well-being, and other measures of success.

bts