Her Story
About Katherine
I am a criminal justice student at Florida Atlantic University in my second year working in the forensic science field. My journey into this career began through the influence of my father, who is a news anchor. Growing up, I went to a lot of his work and became fascinated by how the crime scene aspect worked within the news industry. My nana was also a huge influence - she was a criminal psychologist in a prison in Missouri and always told me stories about her work, so I kind of always knew I wanted to do something within that field. I really started to pursue it seriously after I took a forensics class in high school and really enjoyed it. Last summer, I began interning for the forensics department of West Palm Beach, and I'm currently doing an internship with the Maui Police Department, working for their forensics department over the summer. I'm working 20 hours a week at the police department while also taking 18 credits over the summer. To make this Hawaii internship possible, I'm also volunteering at a hostel doing reception 3 days a week, about 21 hours a week, in order to have housing while I'm here. At Florida Atlantic, I serve as Vice President of Health and Wellness for the Panhellenic Association, where I'm in charge of programming events and everything revolving around health and wellness for all seven sororities on campus. I'm also a member of the Gold Coast Forensics Association, which I was recommended for by one of my senior CSIs that I interned under last summer. My main areas of focus right now are forensic photography and communication with professionals across multiple different lifestyles and topics. I handle a lot of different things, whether that's my clubs, my vice presidency, my major, and my internship. Honestly, I think my area of expertise is just figuring it out as I go and giving my all to everything that I put myself into.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Katherine
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to not necessarily multitasking, but just being as involved with as many things as I am. I do realize I have a lot on my plate, and I have the past, like, since starting college, but I kind of always have. Even in high school, I did, like, 3 sports, I worked, I took care of my grandmother, I lived alone my senior year, and I was also, like, a huge leader in my church. I did worship leading my entire high school career and volunteered at a Bible camp for the summers for free housing. I'd say my most notable achievement is just kind of giving my all to everything that I do and put myself into, position-wise. I think it's important to have people around you that support you, even if your family might not. The friendships I've made, especially through my sorority and having a lot of support from my sisters and my big and my G-big, is one of my most notable achievements. Having somewhere to call home and people who support you is really important.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is a closed mouth never gets fed. I think that's very important, just because I have gotten rejected from internships, I have gotten waitlisted for internships, but in a field that is hard to get into, especially government-wise, with something like forensics or crime scene investigation, a lot of people think that they can handle it. Honestly, just applying to everything that you can possibly is the best thing to do. Like, even when I was in classes in the fall, I would literally be applying to anything that was open, that I was eligible for. Anything to get your foot in the door is absolutely amazing. I got rejected from, I think, 2 or 3 internships this fall, just because of the fact that I already had an internship. When I applied to the police internship that I now have at Maui Police Department, I was like, oh, like, there's no way this will ever happen. But everything kind of worked out, because then I reached out to the hostel, and I kept reaching out. Just being able to constantly communicate and ask is genuinely my best advice, because if you never ask, you're never gonna know an answer.
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