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About Me

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Kayla Hamm – An Overview

A touristy me visiting the Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego, CA in July of 2021

Hello! My name is Kayla, and I am a nontraditional student at The Ohio State University. I started my college career in 2016 as a biochemistry major, hoping to do research in the field one day. However, I have since changed my major and my career goals a couple of times, and I am now a very committed Pre-Med student double majoring in Biology and Medical Anthropology.

What makes me a nontraditional student, and what does that even mean? Great questions! I am a nontraditional student because I have taken a couple of breaks from school, and I am not following the traditional 4-5 year college track. Instead, when I was 18, I decided to join the Ohio Army National Guard, and due to my military service, I have had to, on occasion, put my education on hold. Please read more about my military career on Me and The Military page!

Outside of academics and service, I have quite a few other responsibilities and hobbies. I am an honors peer mentor for the College of Arts & Sciences honors program. I am also the treasurer for OSU’s Women’s Ultimate Disc Club – Scarlet Fever (or just Fever). I discovered my love for ultimate frisbee through the military and have only played competitively since late 2019. Besides sports, I enjoy art (drawing and painting are some of my favorite stress relievers), and I tend to escape reality in the form of fantasy books whenever I’ve had a long day. Brunch with friends is my favorite meal, leg day is the best day at the gym, and I prefer dogs over cats, but the cats are growing on me.

Sweaty me on a 4-mile hike above Glendora, CA in June of 2021

What does my future look like?  Well, hopefully, it’s exciting. My ultimate desire is to become a doctor because I feel strongly about service to people, and I am fascinated by the medical field. I also love the field of anthropology and would love to continue to learn more, so much so that I am considering dual M.D./Ph.D. programs. Apart from my overall goals, the path I take to get there is open.

Thanks for spending time to learn about me!

Kayla

Year in Review

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G.O.A.L.S.

Global Awareness:

As an Anthropological Sciences major, being globally aware is very important. My coursework is very focused on understanding other cultures and the impacts humans have on our environment and other organisms that we share it with. One course that has greatly impacted my idea of global awareness is Archaeology of the Pacific Islands. Before taking this course, I did not know the large number of the people and nations that exist within the Pacific. Furthermore, my understanding of Oceanic cultures was extremely superficial. After taking this course I have come to have a deep appreciation for the people and their cultures. Unfortunately, American and European colonialism is causing great alienation between the native people and their homelands and is destroying the Islander’s cultural past that is very much connected to the land. In addition to replacing the original cultures of the islands, Western Culture is currently turning the Pacific into an economic center that is destroying everything is was and leaving only trash and pollution in its wake. The Pacific is also becoming the foremost example of the consequences of climate change. Sea level rise is causing many atolls to sink into the ocean, and the warming of ocean waters is causing the deaths of many reefs that islands depend on for food, cultural products, and their own economy.

We are in the era of the Anthropocene, where human actions are having broad scale global effects that could greatly alter our future. I plan to continue educating myself on how our influence is destroying our connections to the past and could destroy the possibility of a future. With this information I want to help act. I hope to join the Undergraduate Student Government Sustainability committee and start to push for change within the university and hope to use OSU’s influence to possibly reach a larger audience. I believe that people can change if they are informed on how not changing will influence their lives and the lives of their children.

In addition to these plans within the university, I am also a member of the U.S. Army and will be deployed to the Middle East this coming fall. My unit’s mission overseas is to work with other military forces to train on chemical weapon defense and to share information. This will be a wonderful exchange of culture. This will also be my first time out of the country and a great opportunity for me to explore a section of the world that is generally cut off from civilians. I really hope to learn about the people in these areas and do my best to help protect them from harm. I’m very excited to expand my understanding of a people that the media seems to portray to their own advantage. I hope to be able to see these individuals in a more truthful light.

Original Inquiry:

I have great hopes to begin doing research on campus in the following years both in biology and anthropology. I want to apply to be a research assistant within a medical research lab during the school year. I also want to participate in a field research school during the summers to expand my knowledge of Archaeology, specifically focusing on human burial cites where I can expand my knowledge of human anatomy and study causes of death in the past. In this way I am hoping to help tie together my two majors.

Academic Enrichment:

I have chosen to be an Anthropological Sciences and Biology double major for the purpose of expanding my interests and completing coursework necessary to apply and attend medical school. My hopes are to be a doctor. Biology is an obvious fit for this ambition, as the coursework applies directly to the prerequisites required. I chose Anthropology as a second major to help balance the hard sciences with social sciences and remind myself to focus on people first. I think that it is important to be empathetic to others and have a general respect for their background and culture. I believe that a large part of helping someone heal is mental. In general, it is easier to focus on oneself and healing when those trying to help them can be trusted to understand their beliefs and respect them.

In addition to my hopes for both majors, I have found that Anthropology has opened my eyes to how humans are influencing our world and our health as well. Pollution and climatic change are killing our Earth, as well as harming our health and I truly want to apply this knowledge in a way that I can show human kind that there are serious consequences for our actions. I believe that as a doctor, I will have the credentials and platform to provide proof of these facts and push for change. No one wants to change until not changing will harm themselves.

I think that my coursework is rigorous enough to put me on the path to reach these goals.

Leadership Development:

As a member of the U.S. Army, leadership is a main quality that I focus on. I have been working hard to become a good leader, however the process takes time, energy, and the position must be earned. So far, I have displayed leadership qualities within the army by being a Platoon Guide for my basic training unit. In this capacity I was in charge of making sure my platoon was on time, prepared and I acted as a voice for the platoon to our Drill Sergeants. Platoon Guides are cycled out throughout training, but following this position I was given the job of Squad Leader. In this way I became responsible for a fourth of my platoon, but had larger responsibilities to them. I had to report their whereabouts to my PG, and I also lead them during field training missions. This required tactical knowledge, delegation skills, and making decisions under pressure. I also had a major role in ensuring that my squad stayed motivated and succeeded.

Following basic training, I entered Advanced Individual Training (AIT) for my Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). I am classified as a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Specialist (CBRN Specialist) and this training was to teach me the skills of my job. Within this training I was also a squad leader. In addition to this, I also acted at the Guidon Bearer for my platoon, a responsibility where I was entrusted with the platoon Guidon (a flag with the platoon symbol). The Guidon Bearer is a representative of the platoon, and acts as the Platoon Guide’s Battle Buddy.

Entering my unit post training, I was chosen to compete in the Best Warrior Competition, only two months after arriving at my unit. My Platoon Sergeant chose me as a representative of our platoon and I was required to compete in many events to test military skills and ideas. As a Private First Class, I competed against Staff Sergeants (enlisted personnel three pay grades above me, with many years of experience to my one year). Competitors in these competitions are supposed to be model soldiers to be looked up to as leaders.

Currently, my goals are to become a sergeant while I am still serving in the Nation Guard.

Within the university, I am hoping to utilize and expand these skills further by becoming a key member of the USG Sustainability Committee. I also hope to be a Peer Leader for the College of Arts and Sciences for the 2020 – 2021 school year.

Service Engagement:

Service is very important to me, hence I volunteered to become a U.S. Soldier. I will truly get to serve my country this coming fall of 2018 and into 2019 during my deployment to the Middle East. This will be a great opportunity to give back to a country that has provided me many opportunities. Upon return, I also hope to volunteer at Children’s Hospital and gain medical skills and knowledge while volunteering my time.

For the future, I also hope to become a doctor in the Army and further serve by having the capabilities to help save the lives of others that serve as well. I don’t plan to spend my entire career within the Army, but I want to begin my career by giving back.

G.O.A.L.S.

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Global Awareness: As an Anthropological Sciences major a lot of my coursework will be focused on understanding cultures and social diversity. The field of Anthropology focuses highly on people of the past and how they influenced the future. While pursuing a B.S. I will also be applying scientific methods to allow me to collect and interpret data that helps to further understand findings so that cultural understandings can be widened. I feel that of the five goals, my man focus in coursework will be widening my global awareness. Even outside of my major, I’ve found a new cultural awakening in my German language courses which have inspired me to hope to one day study abroad in Germany.

Original Inquiry: I chose my major because it allowed me to combine my appreciation of art within the humanities with my love for the natural sciences. I hope to combine these interests in many more ways but most importantly in research. Whether this takes place during a hands on archeological dig, or in a lab preserving artifacts, I want to take scientific methods and use them so that I may study and understand cultural contexts better. One way I want to learn hands on skills is to hopefully study abroad to an archeological dig site. I also want to take a summer field study course for my forensic science minor, and even possibly take a class at Stone lab.
Academic Enrichment: A big part of my academic enrichment is my hope to study abroad but in addition to this I am also taking many upper division course options as well as minoring in Studio Art, Biology, and Forensic Science. My hope is that I can combine many fields together and have a new perspective that is all my own. I chose Studio Art as a creative release but also because it can teach me to pay better attention to small details that allow for better analysis. I chose a Biology minor to allow me to specialize more in Physical Anthropology. Finally I hope to also pursue a Forensic Science minor to teach me methods of analysis not taught in Biology. Overall these backgrounds should enhance my degree and allow me a widened sense of academic enrichment that will allow me to apply my knowledge best to a career as an Anthropologist.
Leadership Development: I hope to develop leadership skills in my campus job as an Office Assistant. I am also hoping to join OUAB next year and hopefully work my way up and become more than a general body member. I am also hoping to apply to become and RA or an RM  my junior year. I feel that either job would be a good fit for me and I really think I would enjoy being a helpful resource for other OSU students. In these ways I will be taking on more responsibility and becoming a positive influence in the OSU community.
Service Engagement: As a member of the Ohio Army National Guard I am serving my country and fellow citizens. In addition to giving my time and effort to being a member of the military I also very much want to get involved on campus. I hope to participate in Buckeyethon and Buck-I-Serve because they are great programs that bring much needed help to many people, both within and outside of our community here at OSU.