Her Campus Hollins: What got you into Chemistry to begin with?
Kaitlyn Hall: In school, I was always very interested in the sciences, particularly ocean science and marine biology. I took honors chem in high school and wasn’t terribly enthused, to be entirely honest. In order to bolster my academic resume for college applications, I made a fatal mistake and took AP chemistry my junior year of high school (known in my school for destroying your health and your GPA, but I didn’t learn that until after I enrolled and didn’t realize the extent of it until after the drop date). This class was hard, every other class took back-seat to trying to pass (I maintained a D my first semester, during which I was diagnosed ADD). My school was on a block-semester schedule and AP chem was one of three classes that were required year-long, so for the entire year, I did almost nothing but eat, sleep, and breathe AP chemistry. Occasionally I cried AP chemistry. I loved AP chemistry; no other course in high school felt as fulfilling or as enjoyable, and I missed it dearly later on my senior year. Between the teacher and the sheer challenge, I fell harder in love with chemistry than I had with anything before in my life.
HCH: Why did you choose Hollins?
KH: I put Hollins on my list when my mom and I drove by it on our way to see Roanoke College. She wanted to stop by for a quick visit for another one of her student-clients and I fell in love with the campus. At the time, I was planning to pursue veterinary medicine and Hollins’ vet school statistics are still extremely impressive. Because of the small class sizes, the vet school numbers, and the large scholarship that Hollins offered me, it was the natural choice.
HCH: Between the 4.0 and the awards you’ve won (congrats!), it would seem that you’re a pretty driven person. What drives you?
KH: Thank you! I actually have a cumulative 3.98 (though in my heart of hearts, I round up), a relic of a single A-. My achievements at Hollins, however, aren’t necessarily representative of my achievements in high school. My primary drive is my own natural curiosity: the more interested I am in a subject, the more I pay attention, the more I explore it in my free time, and the harder I work in general. After that, what drives me is a desire to prove myself to anyone who cares to look (myself included): I started at Hollins with 300-level courses in both Spanish and science, so dammit if I wasn’t going to prove my right to be there. Academics also became a way to distract and distinguish myself from issues at home, with friends, and with myself. I figured if I didn’t have time to sleep, I didn’t have time to worry about the things that were bothering me and they wouldn’t have power over me. After that, the success I found (and my irritation with an A-) really excited and satisfied me, so I became driven to maintain it by my own stubbornness.
HCH: What is your favorite thing about chemistry and/or science in general?
KH: What I love most about science in general is really hard to pinpoint. I love the routine processes involved in studying, and I love the way every miraculous occurrence can be broken down and analyzed. As it stands to my eyes, science is the art of organization, reason, and understanding and I lose none of the magic of watching the sun rise, a wave crash on the beach, or a meteor wink by, by understanding how it happens. There’s a special magic in knowing why the sky, the ocean, and human eyes are blue (the Tyndall effect), and my favorite thing about chemistry is how simply magical it is. I feel like I’m satisfying my inner child every day when I learn something new and put it into practice, or when I make too many cookies at home and write it off to my parents as a practical application of my major (which it is).
HCH: Hobbies outside of chemistry? What got you into them? What do you like about them?
KH: I really love to cook (but that’s just chemistry) and to read. I’m an escapist reader; I love the thrill of a well-written, well-developed book.
HCH: Who is your hero (s)? Why?
KH: At risk of sounding cliché, my hero is my mom. She’s an infuriating person at times, but the things she has achieved and her ability to make the best of bad situations (for herself and for her family) have inspired me in recent years.
HCH: Favorite book – fiction and non fiction?Why?
KH: I have a lot of favorite books, so it’s easier to just list them as series. The Wheel of Time epic by the late Robert Jordan, the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, and the Firekeeper Series by Jane Lindskold are my favorite series of works. I primarily read high fantasy for the escape. I also love nearly every book in Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, and the book East by Edith Pattou, which I read whenever I’m feeling sad or lonely.
HCH: Favorite thing you’ve done at Hollins? Why?
KH: I recently got the opportunity to study abroad in Spain during J-term. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience and so far my favorite thing to have done at Hollins. I loved speaking Spanish and exploring Seville, and the weather wasn’t bad for January, either.
HCH: What do you want to do in the future? Why?
KH: I want to get into some form of prosthetics research. What I’d really love to do is work on bionic prosthetics. I was really into Full Metal Alchemist and Ghost in the Shell when I was younger and ever since, I’ve had this burning desire to try and bring bionics to life and make them accessible to amputees. Honestly, any kind of research will excite me, so all I want is to find a position in research, but I’d really love to work in bionics.
HCH: What are your strengths? Why? How are they strengths?
HCH: What do you struggle with? Why?
KH: I struggle a lot with myself in terms of my ego and my temper. I’ve come a long way in managing my reactions and maintaining a more rational composure when dealing with people and problems, but I’m still not great at it. I’ve said and done a lot of things in haste as a result of anger or a sense of entitlement that I’m not in any way proud of, and I’m trying to learn how to avoid acting that way in the future. My biggest issue may be my feelings of entitlement; with as hard as I work (for whatever reason), it has frustrated me in the past (and the present) to see people that I perceive as doing less to be gaining more. In these moments, I have often spoken out inappropriately and unfairly, and I hurt both myself and others in doing so. Controlling myself and the way I act when emotional has been a struggle for me for most of my life; I’ve improved tremendously over the last few years, but I still have a long way to go.
HCH: Words of advice?
KH: Always try your hardest, don’t be too proud or stubborn to be wrong, don’t be ashamed of being wrong, try to accept and own up to your mistakes and shortcomings, and always improve what you can when and where you can. It’s a lot of words, and I’m not necessarily good at living by them, but those are the things I remind myself of every morning, so they feel like the best advice to give others.
HCH: Favorite gift you’ve ever received? Why?
KH:I have two favorite gifts (if we don’t count my dog). The first is a teddy bear that I received from my parents about ten years ago. He accompanies me on most major trips and at home, so he’s become something of a security blanket. The other is a claddagh that was given to me by my current boyfriend; it’s extremely special to me and I wear it every day (except in the lab, I have an irrational fear of exposing it to solubilizing agents).
HCH: Favorite animal? Why?
KH: Dogs are my favorite animals for more reasons than I could possibly list. I love most animals that aren’t monkeys (creepy), dolphins (a**holes), or pandas (too obese to breed, so specialized of a diet that they’ll die of starvation in a bamboo forest), but I love dogs the most. I find dogs to be incredibly empathetic companions and intelligent coworkers. Dogs amaze me in their versatility and soulfulness; I find it extremely difficult to not love them. Nudibranches are a close second to dogs, but that’s just because they’re cool and I think they’re cute.