Lauren Wessel knew she wanted to pursue a career in biological sciences during her high school biology class. It wasn’t until her time in the Young Scholars Academy (YSA) that she knew she wanted to study at Northern Kentucky University (NKU). 

Wessel was recommended for YSA by one of her teachers at Scott High School. Knowing she eventually wanted to pursue a higher education, she joined the program to get an idea of the college experience.  

“YSA was good for helping me discover what I wanted to do,” Wessel says. “I think it’s nice to have that kind of safety net while you’re taking college courses first hand and discovering what exactly you want to do career-wise. YSA is great even if you’re unsure of what your major is going to be or what you want to do for your career. I think it’s a great way to just see if college is right for you—just discover what your interests are and what sort of classes interest you.”

Wessel says she was the kind of high school student who never really needed to study, so she missed out on building essential learning tools before college. In YSA, she was able to learn how to operate as a college student and gain study skills in a protected environment, all while receiving holistic support from advisors.  

“YSA prepared me for college by offering a lot of different kinds of support,” she says. “I think the first-hand experience is also really valuable. In high school, you can take dual-credit courses to get a little snippet of what it might be like, but this was a really great way of being thrown into the college atmosphere while having extra support from the YSA staff all around you.” 

After struggling through an upper-level math class during her first semester in the program, Wessel switched from a STEM track to integrative studies to soften her work load, eventually graduating from YSA with an NKU associate degree in integrative studies.  

“I think it was so important to have done that before actually being a freshman in college, because I had two years to figure out that I wanted to go back to biology,” she says. “If that had happened during my freshman year, I think it would have been a lot more difficult and would have set me back a bit. Without the YSA safety net, I might have never gone back to biology and just picked something else that I maybe saw was easier but wasn’t truly passionate about.”

To those who are just beginning the YSA program, Wessel says to take advantage of the resources offered by staff, even if you think you don’t need them.  

“Take advantage of the supports that they offer you and of this opportunity,” she says. “I wish I had taken more advantage of our advisors and being able to rely on them. I kind of had the urge to be as independent as possible, and I think most people in YSA would probably feel like that because they’re taking on this big challenge. I would say to rely on other people and the supports you have available.”

Over the next five years, Wessel wants to see more connection between program alumni and active YSA scholars, as well as efforts to fully integrate YSA students on campus.  

“I’d like to be more involved, and I’d like to see the program grow and allow relationships to flourish—connect the alumni with the current scholars a bit more,” she says. “I’d also like to see YSA students become more integrated into NKU, and for student organizations to be more intentional about how they could include YSA students in our campus community and what sort of things they could add to it.”

Wessel is expecting to graduate this December with a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences in the cell molecular genetics track with minors in honors and chemistry. After graduation, she plans to apply to graduate programs for genetic counseling.