UMass Lowell Field Hockey Head Coach Shannon LeBlanc doled out an assignment for her players over winter break. It had nothing to do with field hockey.
 
She tasked her student-athletes to come up with three things they were thankful for — a simple but beneficial exercise to show more gratitude.
 
Most of Cate Kleeman's (Gibbsboro, N.J.) teammates were thankful for their friends and families, and Kleeman certainly agreed.
 
But one particular experience over her winter break changed everything for the senior back. Kleeman traveled to Ghana for an eight-day study abroad session with six other honors students to take the course Global Energy and Public Health in the Developing World. She visited ill-equipped hospitals and experienced unsafe water supplies that many countries worldwide are forced to live with.
 
"After my trip, my first three things I was grateful for were clean running water and to have heat and air conditioning in my home," Kleeman said.
 
It was an eye-opening endeavor for the environmental science major who is completing an honors project with Dr. Robert Giles on the subject of energy.
 
Kleeman and her group embarked on two to three excursions each day. Students on the trip ranged from education majors to biomedical majors.
 
"It was really cool for all of us to go together, and to teach each other and learn from each other at the same time," Kleeman explained.
 
One of her most memorable experiences from the trip was her time in the city of Winneba. A high-poverty area, the water was unsafe for consumption. Kleeman and her group were forced to brush their teeth with purified water bottles. Many buildings were not air conditioned in temperatures as high as 95 degrees.
 
Kleeman also visited Ghana's first-ever nuclear power plant, which is currently in the process of being completed.
 
"It was inspiring for me to want to research it further and help be part of the solution because they are already so optimistic about it," she commented.
 
In her time in Ghana, Kleeman was surrounded by an area home to over 50 different tribal languages. They were "all so peaceful and welcoming" every step of the way she reminisced.
 
Kleeman relishes the opportunities she's been granted as a student-athlete at UMass Lowell. Her trip to Ghana marked her third time leaving the country as a River Hawk, the first as a freshman on a study abroad trip to Spain, and the second for a team field hockey trek to Portugal.
 
"Every single year that I'm here at UMass Lowell, I feel like I'm given a new reason to realize I made the best choice ever," said Kleeman. "UMass Lowell has given me so many opportunities, both on the athletics and academic sides."
 
And Kleeman has one more year to soak in every last opportunity to maximize her student-athlete experience. After graduating this spring, she plans to come back for a fifth year and earn a master's degree in business analytics.
 
She'll never forget her experience in Ghana.
 
"It didn't just grow my academics, but I feel like I've grown as a person and I'm able to bring those experiences back and share with everyone else here," Kleeman concluded.