Kayla Harrison ’26 at all times knew she was in reproductive well being and training, however she didn’t know her pursuits would lead her to final frisbee. From Science and Technology seminars and a cappella, to working as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) in addition to intercourse educator for the Adolescent Sexual Health Awareness (ASHA) group. The Argus sat down with Harrison to mirror on her time on the University, her lessons on pleasure and energy, and the politics of science.
The Argus: Why do you suppose you have been nominated for WesCeleb?
Kayla Harrison: I feel that I’m concerned with loads of issues on campus, form of in various sectors. I’m concerned with final frisbee, and I’m a giant a part of the Cardinal Sinners, and I’ve dabbled in loads of efficiency areas right here, so possibly individuals know me from that. I suppose possibly I used to be nominated for WesCeleb as a result of I positively say out-of-pocket issues in my seminar lessons.
A: You’re concerned in Vicious Circles [Vish], the 2026 Division III nationwide champion frisbee crew. How is that?
KH: It has actually been probably the most formative experiences of my time right here at Wesleyan. I feel it’s such a tremendous group and place to compete and enhance as an athlete. On Vicious Circles, I’m the fairness committee chair. In the autumn, I’m chargeable for operating a gathering to determine norms of fairness, each on racial and gender axes. I used to be additionally the energy and conditioning coordinator this yr, which is admittedly enjoyable and a cool solution to mix my passions of well being care and final, to attempt to design a energy and conditioning program that might assist us enhance as athletes. The foremost focus was damage prevention, as a result of we had a bunch of actually dangerous accidents final semester, and I wished to ensure that we decrease the chance of that occuring once more.
A: What else are you concerned with on campus?
KH: I used to be the music director of the Cardinal Sinners for six semesters, however now I’m passing on the torch. I used to be in one other A Capella group referred to as Onomatopoeia, however I needed to take a step again as a result of I used to be simply too busy. I did a few Spike Tape productions as an underclassman, nevertheless it got here to some extent the place I had to decide on between final and theater, and I noticed I actually wished to proceed to do final.
A: What are you concerned with off campus?
KH: I do some educating with ASHA, however I don’t do a ton of it at the moment. I suppose the most important factor I did off campus was working as an EMT. That was a extremely cool expertise. Unfortunately, I needed to cease as a result of I get actually automotive sick. I additionally play aggressive final exterior of school, and I’ll be captaining a membership crew in Boston this summer time.
A: Have you at all times loved final?
KH: Before school, I used to be positively far more concerned in music and theater, so I form of pulled a reverse Troy Bolton. In highschool, I went from theater child to athlete. I performed final in highschool, however primarily as a result of in my highschool, lots of people solely actually play final to get out of fitness center class. With Vish, everyone is there as a result of they wish to be there, both as a result of they actually love the game or the social house.
A: What is Vish like socially?
KH: Frisbee is a gender inclusive sport, and a really homosexual sport, to place it colloquially. It’s a extremely cool setting for individuals to discover their queerness. I don’t suppose I used to be actually uncovered to loads of queerness in athletics till school, till Vish, and that was actually cool.
A: What’s your pre-frisbee sport routine?
KH: I like listening to hype music. The greatest sort of prep I do is in the fitness center, doing field jumps for frisbee. I do loads of plyometrics. It helps with explosiveness, particularly as a result of I’m quick.
A: What is your main?
KH: I’m a Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (MB&B) and Science and Technology in Society (STS) double main with a focus in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality research (FGSS) and a minor in chemistry.
A: What impressed your path at Wesleyan?
KH: I noticed that I had a extremely robust curiosity in reproductive justice and additionally reproductive well being, and I wished to be an OB-GYN. That caught with me all via highschool and now via school, and I positively formed all of my coursework across the thought of pursuing a profession in girls’s and non-cis males’s well being. My FGSS lessons have been useful for that, due to the intersectional educating about gender, race, sexuality, and socioeconomic standing. To be a healthcare supplier, you could have to concentrate on many alternative identities of sufferers to offer them the care that they deserve. So a lot of healthcare is predicated round caring for cis-hetero white males, and that’s what loads of anatomical requirements are based mostly on. I hope studying about these items will make me a greater physician sometime.
A: What pursuits you about reproductive well being and sexual well being consciousness?
KH: When I used to be 15, I grew to become form of like some extent particular person for my mates, the place they’d ask questions on contraception, intervals, and intercourse. I grew to become the educator for my mates in that means, and I feel that’s additionally as a result of at my faculty, we didn’t have any intercourse ed. That’s a part of why I’m so grateful for ASHA, though I sadly haven’t been as concerned with it the previous couple of years. I want I had that after I was in highschool.
A: What’s your favourite class you’ve taken at Wesleyan?
KH: I don’t know if that is really my favourite, however the one which I feel actually shifted my perspective on the world probably the most was an FGSS class that was taught by [Associate Professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies] Kerwin Kay, “Pleasure and Power.” It actually taught me how a lot of the world is ruled by energy dynamics on the premise of social id, and how sexuality is a lot extra of a governing power than we notice. Before that class, I had a really stereotypical cut-and-dry narrative about sexual assault as taking place when someone spiked your drink, or a person in the bushes that might come out and soar you, one thing like that and I feel that was only a actually essential class.
A: What have you ever discovered from FGSS and MB&B over the previous 4 years?
KH: It made me notice what number of layers there are to day-to-day interactions. What all of it comes right down to is that a lot of my training is about intersectionality. You can’t expertise one facet of your id in a vacuum if you’re a lady of colour. One of the very best examples is the instance of contraception. Birth management was a instrument of liberation for white girls, nevertheless it was a instrument of inhabitants management for individuals of colour. Even a seemingly goal expertise like science is politicized. And how applied sciences are usually not simply in a vacuum, the way in which that they’re used and the way in which that they have an effect on individuals is knowledgeable by the id of these individuals.
A: Do you’re feeling just like the medical area lacks range in perspective?
KH: There’s positively not sufficient analysis in feminine well being care, in sports activities medication, gynecology, and endocrinology. Black girls are 3 times extra prone to die in childbirth than white girls. We wish to consider science and medication as aims, nevertheless it has a racist historical past, particularly in gynecology and obstetrics. Maternal and gynecological ache nonetheless persist to today. People suppose you could’t really feel something in your cervix, which is why IUDs, up till very lately, have been at all times executed with no numbing, and it’s barbaric. I wish to ensure that I’m conscious of the historical past of these items as a supplier to ensure my sufferers are comfy and revered. Learning in regards to the citric acid cycle, meiosis, and the target stuff is essential. But while you’re working with individuals, it is advisable to study extra than simply pure science.
A: What are your profession objectives?
KH: I wish to go to medical faculty, to hopefully get my MD, however I’m going to take two hole years. I’m at the moment in the interview course of with clinics for medical assistant roles. I liked my EMT work, and I feel it actually taught me loads about tips on how to work together with sufferers and navigate a healthcare setting. It was actually cool attending to be on the entrance traces and straight deal with sufferers out in the sector. But that was simply not sustainable as a result of I get automotive sick.
A: Where do you discover the stability between profession and enjoyable?
KH: I feel that I collect power from my mates, and discover actions that energize me. The most I used to be ever capable of finding a stability between profession and enjoyable was after I was learning for the MCAT this summer time. I imply, I used to be working half time nannying, then teaching youth final. But I used to be learning between three and seven hours a day. That expertise taught me that the mind breaks from taking part in membership final with my crew have been so mandatory for me to then have the ability to be productive with all these actually onerous science programs. Google Calendar, that’s a great way to phrase it.
A: What recommendation would you give to your freshman self?
KH: Nap much less through the day, sleep extra at evening. Do what makes you cheerful, don’t do issues simply since you suppose you’re purported to do them. Obviously, you need to hit the benchmarks and necessities for a profession, however I want I had form of taken a second to breathe extra, as a result of I used to be a really anxious freshman. I’m nonetheless an anxious senior. Take the time when it is advisable to lock in, so then you possibly can have time to make reminiscences with your folks.
A: What are you trying ahead to in your remaining semester?
KH: Trying to outlive biochemistry and immunology.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
Claire Farina could be reached at [email protected].