A Bit About Myself:
Hello! My name is Kaitlin Kaiser, but most people call me “Katie” for short. I am northeast Ohio born and raised, and until now, I have been living Cuyahoga Falls. (For reference: just think Blossom Music Center and you’re right on the money in terms of location.) I love art of all types and poetry, and dance is my favorite activity that I’ve been working to perfect for 12 years. Generally, if a food is covered in cheese, there is a 90% chance that it will be eaten. I graduated in the top ten with honors at Woodridge High School located in Peninsula, Ohio, and I am starting as a 1st year at The Ohio State University as an Honors and Scholars student studying Neuroscience.
High School:
Woodridge was, above all, a great place to grow up in. I had been going there since kindergarten and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. In high school, I was very active and involved in the I’dhe Rather Be Dancing Competitive Dance Team. To challenge myself and try something new, I signed up for the school’s tennis team and by senior year I went from never holding a racket before to playing varsity doubles. Church life was a large component in my life as I served communities around the country in mission trips and was an active leader within the youth group at Northampton United Methodist Church as a “Teen Leader,” where we as a group coordinated events and acted as the liaison between the youth and the adult leaders. I was also very involved with the arts at school, participating in and leading: Marching Band, Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Womens’ Ensemble, and Rhapsody (the school’s show choir). All the while I pushed myself academically in numerous AP courses and participating in NHS. Some of my favorite memories revolve around the experiences that I have made with my friends in my passions. One particular memory that sticks out as I am writing this is an experience that happened not too long ago. As part if a church outreach, volunteers drove down to the Akron-Canton Food Bank to assist the staff in organizing and repacking the meat donations. We worked along each other as friends and family and even made connections with total strangers that worked alongside us. It was a long morning, and by the end we all were cracking jokes about eating salads for the rest of the week, but all of the hard work paid off in dividends. We were able to repack and organize 19,300 pounds of meat which provides 16,083 meals to families in need. In that moment we were overwhelmed with gratitude and humility as we heard the stats. It goes to show that even a little bit of your time and some actions as simple as passing food from one place to the next can go a long way in helping others who need it. It was a truly beautiful experience that will stick with me for a long time.
Continuing on at OSU:
Woodridge is a smaller high school that, while growing rapidly, only has about 170 people in each class. This allowed for each class and the entire school to become a tight knit community. It might look weird, going from a small community to studying at one of the country’s largest campuses. But I craved the change. As diverse as Woodridge was, I wanted to meet more people from every background and walk of life and escape the small school bubble. I see OSU as a fresh start for new experiences and people. While overwhelming at first, the more time I spend on campus, the smaller it seems to get. I see familiar faces from high school and newfound friends everywhere I go. Even the campus itself seems a little smaller the more I navigate it. At OSU I plan to push myself to get the best education I can. Undergraduate research is a huge thing I plan to get involved in to discover new ideas that challenge the status quo. Like my time in Woodridge, I also hope to make lasting connections that will help me throughout my life.