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Kayti Marr
By Renata Daconti, a freshman majoring in human biology. She is a member of Presidential Honors Society, Optometry Club and Environmental Task Force.
 PHS, also known as Presidential Honors Society, is an organization here at UAlbany where students who have achieved a high overall G.P.A. have the opportunity to become members. This organization helps you meet a lot of students who are going through the same experiences as you are. It gives you the opportunity to learn more about the University at Albany and about various fields through volunteer work. It was through PHS that I met Kayti Marr. We were both volunteering at a blood drive here on campus. I was so excited to meet her because I learned days before that she would be one of the people that I was going to interview for the Senior Profiles.
As we started talking, I noticed how much we had in common. We both struggle with a second language -- she struggles with Spanish, while I sometimes struggle with English. Also we have lived in different countries. Kayti lived for three months in Seville, Spain and I am from Brazil and have been living in the United States for three years. We also talked about orange juice, how in restaurants in Spain and Brazil they squeeze oranges to make fresh orange juice and it�s the best orange juice ever!!
I asked about her major, Spanish. Since she was a child, Kayti has wanted to be bilingual and started taking Spanish classes in middle school. She completely fell in love with the class and continued studying it until the end of high school. When she applied to UAlbany, she thought she wanted to be a physics major but after her first semester during her freshman year, she realized that Spanish was her true love, her passion and she decided to dedicate her life to it. She also decided to minor in linguistics and business. Ernest Scatton, who is a professor here at UAlbany, influenced Kayti to minor in linguistics. She said that �he is so excited about his work, so cool, so personable and approachable that it made me get excited about Linguistics too.�
 Originally, Kayti is from Plattsburgh, NY, and I wondered how life is there. She told me that it is basically a white Christian community with not much diversity. So, when she arrived here in UAlbany, she discovered how diverse people can be and how many great cultures exist in the world.
UAlbany made a big difference in Kayti�s life: �I found out that I actually had to study for tests! My college career made me a well-disciplined, hard-working student. UAlbany taught me how to manage my time and balance school with friends.�
Kayti was an excellent student here. She not only has excelled in academics but also got involved in some organizations, such as Presidential Honors Society, National Society for Collegiate Scholars. She is also a Presidential Scholar and does work study at the Physics Department. After she graduates from UAlbany, she wants to complete her master�s in secondary education to become a high school Spanish teacher. She plans on teaching high school students �the joy of a second language.� Her long-term goal is to be an English teacher in Spain.
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Kayti Marr at Real Alcazar in Seville, Spain in November 2003 |
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When I asked her for some advice for freshmen, she told me: �Be tolerant. You will meet people from all different cultures and backgrounds and being open and accepting to their different ideas and viewpoints will get you farther. The epitome of being tolerant is to STUDY ABROAD! This made all the difference in the world to me when I studied in Seville, Spain in the fall of 2003. It made me open my eyes to different world views and also see the way the world viewed me as an American. It was a very humbling yet thrilling experience.�
I had a lot of fun shadowing and interviewing Kayti. I got to meet a lot of people and some of her professors. It was really great. Thanks Kayti for all your help.
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