Senior Circuit...Kristin KountzKristin Kountz grew up in Rome, Georgia, where she attended a relatively small prep school with a little over one hundred students in each class.
“Once I began visiting college campuses, I quickly realized large state universities were not going to provide me with both the academic and social opportunities that I was looking for. A true nerd at heart, I was not willing to give up the small class sizes and the exposure to genuinely supportive faculty that I was fortunate enough to have received during my secondary education. Still, college is college, and I knew that there is no better time to indulge in a generous amount of play.
“So, I searched all up and down the East Coast for the perfect fit. Go figure, I couldn't find one. The only thing I did find was that there is no perfect fit. I only found one school where the students seemed to take academics incredibly seriously while still being willing to cut loose on the weekends -- Wofford College.”
Kountz has lived up to that standard, excelling both academically and socially.
“I will be graduating with a B.S. in chemistry and an emphasis in computational science this coming May,” she says. “Entering college I was aware that my strengths and interests would lead me towards the sciences, so I initially identified myself as a biology major. Then, I took a chemistry class and fell in love!
“I am fascinated with the beautiful complexity of life on the most minute levels. The faculty in Wofford's chemistry department are young, fun, down-to-earth, and simply unparalleled. My coursework in computational science has also been interesting, but I am most thankful for the internship experience that I was a able to get as a result of Wofford's exceptional computational science program. I spent this past summer interning in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Vanderbilt University, where I had the opportunity to develop proteomics software.”
Socially, she has shifted gears as well.
“I came to Wofford as a part of the women's soccer team,” she says. “Following knee surgery early on in my time at Wofford, I made the difficult decision to not continue on with my soccer career.
“I decided go through sorority recruitment, the first woman on either side of my family to do so. I pledged Kappa Delta and have really enjoyed getting involved in the Greek community here at Wofford through my service on the Panhellenic Council. I have also served on the Honor Council for the past two years. Having the opportunity to support and uphold academic integrity among my peers has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences during my college years.”
And that’s saying something, according to Kountz.
“There is no way that I can properly articulate how thankful I am for all that Wofford has provided for me over the past four years,” she says. “My undergraduate experience has not only trained me as scientist, but has also given me the opportunity to learn how to be a leader. As I head toward my final days here at Wofford, I am most thankful for my incredible and dynamic friends.”
When that walk on the lawn of the Main Building is over, Kountz will tackle her next endeavor with the same attitude that has carried her through four years at Wofford.
“My near-future plan is to teach chemistry in the greater Greenville area,” she says. “My plan has always been to apply for medical school and begin the long journey to becoming a physician straight after college. But my heart is taking me down a curvy road these days and my 22-year-old self is just not ready to jump full-force into a graduate program. While I am trying my best to keep myself open to what life brings, I do believe that I will follow through with my lifelong passion and decide to apply for medical school within the coming years.”