Katie Clough

Katie has been incredibly involved in the Honors College since her first day on campus. She has served as an RA in the Honors LLC, an Honors Ambassador, and President of the Honors Student Association. In May of 2022, she graduated with a BS in neuroscience. We asked her to speak about her experience in honors and this is what she had to say:

"Starting in August I will be attending the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in their Biological Biomedical Sciences Program pursuing a PhD in toxicology. None of this would be possible without the incredible mentors and experiences I’ve had at NKU.

Honors was so pivotal not only to my education but to my growth as a person. Sure the classes were fun and I learned content in them, but more than anything honors was important because of the skills it gave me to be successful out of the classroom.

I have been an undergraduate research assistant since the summer after my freshman year, this means I have been working in a lab doing real science the majority of my college career. I learned so many bench skills and I learned how to be a scientist, but I also learned how to be independent and how to fail. Honors was so important for my research because it pushed me to try new things and to create a project of my own. It’s pretty easy to do someone else’s project, but to think of new questions and to try to answer those questions is really hard.

Honors gave me the confidence to make mistakes, it gave me opportunities to try, truly try, which allowed me to be successful.

Honors was not only my favorite community throughout college but I think it was the most important in my growth as a person. Change is good and honors helped me to change how I see the world, and how I interact with the world.

I’ve said it before, but honors teaches us to be change makers. To Identify problems and come up with unique and novel solutions. To think outside your bubble and comfort zone and help the communities around you.

Honors teaches you that anything is possible, and they lead through example. I have never seen an honors faculty member shy away from helping a student or finding a solution to their problem. Honors is a place of “why nots” and “you can's” and it has inspired and trained me to be successful."

The Honors College is proud to highlight the incredible work and accomplishments of our students and alumni. Each month, we hope to highlight either a student or alumnus of the Honors College.

If you would like to be highlighted, please contact us at honors@nku.edu.