Kate­lyn is major­ing in ani­mal sci­ence. Her biggest chal­lenge since start­ing col­lege has been trans­fer­ring from a com­mu­ni­ty col­lege to Iowa State, but she was deter­mined to make it work so she did! Read more about Katelyn’s jour­ney in her full interview.

What oppor­tu­ni­ties or expe­ri­ences have you been able to take part in that you might not have been able to with­out the scholarship?

Because of the schol­ar­ship, I am able to con­sid­er oppor­tu­ni­ties to study abroad. With­out the schol­ar­ship, study­ing over­seas would have been beyond my finan­cial capa­bil­i­ties. I was also able to trans­fer stress-free from South­west­ern Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege to Iowa State because I do not have debt adding up from two dif­fer­ent schools. 

How are you explor­ing your career and prepar­ing your­self for life after college?

I am tak­ing a wide range of class­es and pur­su­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties out­side of school to expand my knowl­edge base and pre­pare for a future career in agri­cul­ture. I am intern­ing at a vet clin­ic in Cre­ston, Iowa, which has allowed me to expe­ri­ence what it would be like to serve as a vet­eri­nar­i­an in a mixed ani­mal prac­tice. I have also applied to sev­er­al dif­fer­ent intern­ships out­side of vet med­i­cine in order to explore oth­er inter­ests. I hope to take a trav­el course through Iowa State and view the world of agri­cul­ture from an inter­na­tion­al perspective. 

What has been your biggest chal­lenge since start­ing college?

Trans­fer­ring from a com­mu­ni­ty col­lege to Iowa State was espe­cial­ly dif­fi­cult this year. It took me a while to adjust to a new school and cam­pus, but I asked a lot of ques­tions about my class­es, trans­fer­ring cred­its, and what I can do to max­i­mize my two short years as an ISU undergrad. 

Aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly, it’s a big change to go from a com­mu­ni­ty col­lege to a uni­ver­si­ty, and I need­ed to mod­i­fy some of my study habits and how much time I spend with class mate­r­i­al. For­tu­nate­ly, there are a lot of resources avail­able to help. 

Who is your biggest inspi­ra­tion, and why?

My fam­i­ly encour­ages me to do my best every day. They sup­port me in every­thing I do and push me to be the best I can be, both aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly and per­son­al­ly. I do not know where I would be with­out my sis­ters, mom, and dad.

Where do you see your­self in five years? Ten years?

I hope to be in prac­tice as a vet­eri­nar­i­an in a mixed ani­mal prac­tice, and I am def­i­nite­ly plan­ning on giv­ing back to the foun­da­tion that has giv­en so much to me.