By: Isabella Lebron
Breanna Gibson has been awarded the 2025-26 George Williams Garrett Memorial Scholarship. Gibson joined the Honors College at App State Fall semester of 2022 and plans to graduate in May. She is majoring in kinesiology with minors in psychology and medical humanities.
The George Williams Garrett Memorial Scholarship provides as much as $2000 support to students in the App State Honors College pursuing careers in scientific research with preference given to students who are planning to work in medicine or medical research. Honors College students in good standing and performing research in fields related to the biomedical field are eligible to apply. This scholarship supports research and related travel expenses outside of coursework.
Growing up, Gibson always loved and was involved in sports, and she also has a family mentor who worked in the healthcare field. During her first semester in the Honors College, Dr. Scott Collier, faculty instructor for Gibson’s Honors College first-year seminar, introduced her to Dr. Jared Skinner, assistant professor in the Departments of Kinesiology and Public Health, as a potential research mentor. Gibson has since worked alongside Dr. Skinner in his research lab. She reflected, “When I found out that Physical Therapists’ could specialize in research and pursue a lifelong career in the research field, I became even more interested.” Through working in Dr. Skinner’s lab, Gibson has fallen in love with research and been inspired to pursue shadowing, an internship, and a job at a physical therapy clinic.
Featured from left to right: Breanna Gibson, Natalie Thulien, Olivia Chapman, Lizzie Muscarello, and Brandon Ellis at App State’s Annual Celebration of Student Research and Creative Endeavors in 2023. Photo Submitted.
This award will support Gibson’s Honors College thesis research, “The Effects of Resistance Training on Fatigue Levels Throughout the Menstrual Cycle.” For her thesis, she is working under the mentorship of Dr. Jared Skinner and Ms. Erin Young, lecturer in the Department of Biology, is serving as her second reader. About her research, Gibson explained: “This undergraduate honors thesis is extensive and intricate in an attempt to determine how a consistent resistance training workout would affect the participant in each phase of their cycle. Participants complete six sessions: a familiarization session, a maximal strength test, and four intervention sessions aligned with each menstrual phase.”
Dr. Skinner shared that as an active and valued member of his Locomotor Learning Lab for over two years, Gibson “has consistently demonstrated curiosity, perseverance, and a deep commitment to scientific inquiry.” He further explains that, “undertaking a complex, intervention-based study as an undergraduate is ambitious, yet Breanna has met each challenge with determination and maturity.”
Mrs. Sheila Garrett established the George Williams Garrett Memorial Scholarship in 2017 in honor of her late husband George Williams Garrett. Mr. Garrett, an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam, was a mathematician and systems analyst. Mrs. Garrett is a medical technologist whose career spanned 45 years. The Garrett family is devoted to scientific research, especially research focused on medical applications.
Gibson describes the process of applying for the George Williams Garrett Memorial Scholarship as invigorating and life changing. She applied realizing that the scholarship seemed right up her alley, and in hopes of being able to pursue medical research through a funded opportunity. She says, “I originally did not know much about the scholarship until I received a specific email about it. I considered not applying because I had numerous other responsibilities at the time… I thought I wouldn’t stand a chance.” Offering advice, Gibson stated,
“For future students applying to scholarships, even this one, always apply. It is free money and you may be the only person who applies because others didn’t want to spend time writing a single essay.”
Receiving the scholarship has had a profound impact on Gibson, both practically and personally. She notes that it will greatly help to fund her education. Specifically, Gibson shared that this scholarship will allow her to take more time to focus on the social aspects of being an undergraduate. “Going into my senior year, I wanted to make time... I wanted to enjoy social life and everything Boone has to offer. The last three years, I worked every chance I could and even over most breaks. This scholarship is allowing me to make the most out of my collegiate career and create memories and closer friendships overall. It allows me to focus on more than my degree,” she explained. More importantly, it serves as a recognition of her hard work and dedication throughout her time in the Honors College.
Gibson shared,
Being in the Honors College has provided me a sense of community and purpose beyond [what I] expected. It has allowed me to pursue opportunities that felt out of reach coming into college and accomplish them. The drive of my peers stands out to me tremendously. Everyone in the Honors College is working on major projects and seeing them succeed makes me want to continue with my own even in the hardest of times.
She further explained that “In a large university, it means everything to have those with similar goals and drive who know what all the extra hours and work means.”
Gibson praised the Honors College faculty and staff for continuously supporting her throughout her undergraduate degree. Through them, she has learned to trust and lean on others and accept support. Academically, the Honors College pushed Gibson to strive for more and dream beyond what she thought was possible. She reflected, “I thought the C in Chem II would ruin my chances of getting into PT school. Coming out of college, I am learning that the smallest of progress is still progress. I am learning that most of the time, the littlest issues are not life threatening. And most of all that everything is going to be okay. I am coming out of college ready to continue my education rather than feeling overwhelmed by all the decisions and choices that could go wrong.”
Photo above pictures left to right: Ansley Patton, Dr. Jared Skinner, Yosef, and Breanna Gibson at a Celebration of Giving hosted for donors at Leon Levine. Photo Submitted.
Looking ahead, Dr. Skinner noted that Gibson will share her findings at the Southeast Chapter Annual Meetings of the American College of Sports Medicine, and noted this is, “an impressive accomplishment for an undergraduate researcher.”
Gibson has also been accepted and plans to attend Wingate University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program starting January 2027. With this program, Gibson aspires to bring greater awareness to the importance of studying female physiology and to help close the gender gap in scientific and clinical knowledge. By combining clinical practice with research, Gibson hopes to contribute to a more equitable and evidence-based understanding of how sex-specific differences influence recovery, performance, and health outcomes. Gibson says, “Ultimately, my experience in research has strengthened my commitment to becoming not only a practicing physical therapist but also a researcher dedicated to advancing women’s health in the field of exercise science.” Congratulations, Breanna!
Top photo features Breanna Gibson in App State’s Beaver College of Heath Sciences. Photo Submitted.
Top photo features Breanna Gibson in App State’s Beaver College of Heath Sciences. Photo Submitted.
Top photo features Breanna Gibson in App State’s Beaver College of Heath Sciences. Photo Submitted.