This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UW Stout chapter.

Name: Kelly Martinson

Hometown: Waterford, Wis. (near Racine, Wis.)

Major: Psychology

Minor: English Writing

Year: Senior

Relationship Status: Single

HC: Describe yourself in three words:

KM: Hardworking, intelligent, good-friend.

HC: What is the #1 thing on your bucket list?

KM: Skydiving. It would be cool to go somewhere outside of the U.S. that I haven’t been- Australia or something like that. You’re coming down and you can see all this world that you don’t know.

HC: Where are you most likely to be found on campus?

KM: Harvey

HC: How are you involved at UW-Stout?

KM: Dance Ensemble, Swing Dance Club, Paintball, Psi Chi, and Honors College

HC: What is being part of the paintball team like?

KM: The club has a club and a team. The team is the people who are more in the competitive play. They have their own speedball equipment, which is very expensive if you want to get into that. They actually go to tournaments and play at a collegiate level. The team members are in the club as well and the club plays against one another on teams of three or four.

For the club, we met once a week in the gym and play with a reball, which is just a rubber ball instead of actual paint. It’s basically just to play, have fun, and maybe learn a little bit of technique, but it’s low stakes compared to the team.

HC: What is being the only girl on the paintball team like?

KM: It’s interesting because at first, it’s kind of intimidating, but all the guys are pretty nice and we get along really well. It’s funny because I’ve had it before where people, guy or girl doesn’t matter, are super interested in the club, but the girls just never show up. So I don’t know if it’s partially a thing where people don’t realize that girls can join because I’ve also had when I go to the gym and I’m like, ‘I’m here for paintball,’ and they’re like, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize that was a co-ed sport’. It never is specified as just guys or girls. They’re more than welcome to join. The club has nothing against it. I just don’t think that they know.

HC: What is your dream job?

KM: I still don’t really know what I want to do yet. A good general answer is something I enjoy. I don’t want to wake up not looking forward to going to work. I want to wake up like, ‘I get to go to work today’ I enjoy what i’m doing or what I’m doing feels meaningful or purposeful. I don’t know exactly what that is yet. Right now, I’m looking into working in a crisis field. In the legal field, they’ve got the victim witness agency that works with victims and witnesses of crimes to make sure their rights are upheld. So I’m looking into things like that or working with individuals in crisis.

HC: Where do you want to be in five years?

KM: Location-wise, I’d like to stay in the Midwest. I like the area. Professionally, I again don’t know what I’d be going for, the goal is to take some time off work, figure out what I want to do, and then go to grad school once I decide what it is I want to do. The end goal is to go to grad school at some point.

HC: How do you feel about graduating in three years?

KM: It’s kind of terrifying because you don’t have that extra year to think about what you want to do with your life, so I’m feeling a little rushed, but it’s also a good feeling because all the hard work I did to get to this point paid off. It was a lot of work, especially in high school leading up to college when I got that extra year done. It’s very exhausting, but it’s good to finally see the rewards that come out of it.

HC: What actions did you have to take to graduate early?

KM: I just took a lot of AP classes in high school. I think I took a total of nine AP tests throughout high school and I came to college with 36 credits, so that’s over a whole year’s worth, which was very exhausting in high school. I had six of those tests was just my senior year, so I had five AP classes, I had a job, I was in Honor Society, I had a varsity sport, and I was running on five hours of sleep a night.

HC: What made you want to graduate early?

KM: A large part of it was money because you kind of have to plan ahead with that. College isn’t cheap and I knew that the AP route was much more affordable, so that was definitely a big factor. Also, I know I’m good at school. I know how to study. I know how to do well, so it just made sense that I would push myself because I knew I was able to. I feel very accomplished thinking I graduated in three years when the average program is four years and a lot of people still end up taking five years.

HC: What are some of the positives of graduating early?

KM: Talking to people, they see it as pretty impressive and it shows I’m a hard-worker. With graduating in three years, I’ve also maintained a 4.0. All of it together not only makes me feel accomplished of what I’ve done, but it also shows other people. I can say I’ve worked hard, but this actually shows that I do work hard at what I want.

HC: What will you miss about Stout?

KM: Friends. I’m going to miss just having them always within the vicinity because I don’t know where I’m going to end up. With living in the dorms and now living with my friends off campus, it’s just always good to have that social outlet and when I’m gone, it’s going to be harder to make time and be as social as I am here.

HC: What are your plans for the summer?

KM: “Ideally, I would like to have found some sort of job and start the process of that. If I haven’t found something, I have a summer job that I’ll probably still be working at. I will either be trying to figure out what my next step is or I’ll be starting that next step.” She also adds her and a friend may be planning a road trip. “Right now, it’s just an idea of something we want to do. We have no plans, especially since we don’t know what we’ll be doing, but I hope something turns out with that. Even if it’s not this summer, even if it’s a couple summers down the road.”

Meet Campus Cutie: Kelly Martinson

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