HONORS ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

BIOLOGY and HONORS COLLEGE STUDENT CHYNNA SMITH

Chynna Smith, a first-generation college student, graduated in 2020 with a degree in Biology and a minor in Chemistry and Honors Interdisciplinary Studies. During her time at WAU, she took full advantage of the opportunities presented to her.

She was on the Women’s Basketball team all four years, the secretary for the Student Association, a teacher’s assistant for the Biology and Chemistry departments, and part of HOSA and the Honors College. Smith also served as the Deputy Secretary General for the 2020 CAPITALMUN conference held on the WAU campus.

With her family experiences, especially her grandmother passing away from ovarian cancer, Smith wanted to pursue a career in cancer research. Smith’s family has worked in different fields of research, so Chynna was exposed early to that environment. In June 2020, just weeks after graduat-

BECOMING: AN ORIGINAL MUSICAL WRITTEN, DIRECTED AND PERFORMED BY WAU HONORS STUDENTS

When Music Department faculty member Dr. Deborah Thurlow, the Artistic Director of the WAU Performance Workshop, heard that two students were writing a musical about their freshman year experience at WAU, she said, “Great! We will produce it!” Little did she know, Becoming would be the first time in her 30-year tenure at the university that the Performance Workshop mounted a full show written BY and FOR students.

ing, she started a post-baccalaureate fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she was able to delve into her passion even more. This post-bac fellowship is coveted by students all over the country, and only about 10% of applicants are accepted. Chynna also, perhaps unknowingly, started a trend for Biology students at WAU. In each of the years that followed, another WAU graduate participated in research programs at the NIH: Anu Sunkara in 2021 and Ava Movahed Abtahi in 2022.

Last year, after the completion of her fellowship, Chynna began an M.D./Ph.D at the prestigious Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, where she is in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), which is fully funded by the NIH and other organizations. While she was thrilled to be accepted, ultimatly, she is focused on her personal success rather than the stature of the school she attends. “Your environment matters,” she said, “so don’t worry about prestige. Are you going to be supported and comfortable?” She added that “med school is hard already, so you don’t want to be in a place where you don’t feel welcomed or heard.”

As a physician-scientist, Chynna intends to include research that aligns with the issues and groups that are underrepresented in medicine, such as access and care.

You can see Chynna talk about her experience as a Biology major in her own words on the WAU YouTube page by scanning the QR code below.

The two students at the center of the production were Anna Karla “AK” Carreno, ‘22, an English and Honors Interdisciplinary Studies major, who wrote the musical score and lyrics, and Jenevieve “Jenna” Lettsome, ‘22, a Music, Pre-Law and Honors Interdisciplinary major who produced the show and co-wrote the script with Anna Karla. Together along with a cast of friends and fellow students, they produced a full-length musical that debuted in the Peters Music Center in March 2022. Most of the writing of the musical was done during the nearly 12 months when WAU was “virtual only” due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With original songs like Flying on My Own, Today Ohio Tomorrow the World and Just Be Free the musical explores the ups and downs of being a college freshman in a new environment — something that almost everyone can relate to. Becoming was a true collaboration across campus.