UNCW Pre-Health Professions
Advising Program
Soaring Seahawk
Bill Simpson , Class of 2012
Sophomore Class President – Class of 2012
Bill Simpson is a second semester Freshman with a pre-dental focus. Although Bill is still deciding on a major, he is leaning strongly toward Biology. His career path was established during his formative years while sitting in the dentist office over many, many visits.
“I guess you could say my emersion in the field through many office visits and numerous lectures and projects has exposed me just enough to make dentistry my career choice.”
Making academics his top priority, Bill achieved Dean’s List first semester earning a 3.5 GPA. Losing no time to demonstrate both his leadership skills and commitment to community service, Bill is currently serving as a freshman class representative in Student Government Association (SGA) and was recently elected to the position of sophomore class president for the 2009-2010 academic year. Simpson has also been selected to be an Orientation Leader (OL) for Summer, 2009. His groups of newly-minted UNCW Freshman (Class of 2013) will go by the name of “Bill’s Buccaneers”. Bill has also been chosen to serve as a Residence Assistant (RA) in the new Seahawk Crossing. In typically enthusiastic form, he has already created a spirited motto for his residents: “Building four, second floor…it’s the place to be!” In addition, Bill is a member of Hillel, the ECO Club and participates on the UNCW University Affairs Committee.
“My involvement here at UNCW has given me the opportunity to branch out and get to know the many sides and ‘in’s and out’s’ of campus life and academics. UNCW offers many opportunities to get involved - all that you have to do is grab a hold, make an effort, and hang on for the ride.”
Soaring Seahawk
Caitlyn Kaspar, Class of 2012
Freshman Class President - Class of 2012
Caitlyn is currently a first-semester freshman pre-med. She aspires to be an allopathic physician specializing in pediatrics. This is a goal she set early in life. In her own words,
“I never went through phases where I wanted to be a firefighter, a teacher, or any other profession. I know that I am one of the very few, very lucky young adults who knows exactly what I want to do when I ‘grow up’. My love for children and my desire to give back and help others makes me sure that becoming a pediatrician is what I want to do with my life”.
Recognizing the importance of continuing to develop herself, both as a person and a leader in preparation for eventual application to medical school, Caitlyn wasted no time getting involved in the UNCW community. During her first semester on campus, she successfully campaigned to become Freshman Class President for the Class of 2012.
In high school, Caitlyn participated in Student Government for four years serving as Student Body Vice President in her junior year. While involved in Student Government, Caitlyn
helped to organize blood drives, bagel sales, homecoming activities, holiday greeting card sales to benefit a local adopt-a-family program, dances, and variety shows. During her senior year, she assisted in the planning of the school's first ever Relay for Life event which raised over $75,000 for the American Cancer Society.
As a sophomore, Caitlyn was also selected to be part of RYLA, the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. Through this program, she attended a national leadership conference where she gained insight into how to be a more effective leader. Caitlyn was invited to return as a junior to help plan the RYLA conference and to serve as both a committee member and a facilitator/mentor to the sophomores who would be attending. As a senior, she returned to RYLA to serve as one of three chairpersons and was involved in scheduling guest speakers and participating in the planning of all aspects of the conference.
Soaring Seahawk
Jennifer Cockrell, Class of 2010
Recipient of the 2008 GlaxoSmithKline
Young Women in Science Scholarship
"I’m only a sophomore.”, Cockrell said, “I never imagined that I would be doing what I am doing in a laboratory like this! It’s really the only way you are going to learn…by getting in there and doing it, jumping in over your head and trying. I really love working here. And I love chemistry. You know, a chemistry experiment doesn’t always – or even often – work out the way you want it to. That’s a good life lesson to learn. My oldest brother got both his undergraduate and master’s degrees at UNCW, and he worked in Dr. Hancock’s lab last year doing his master’s thesis on ligand research. His thesis was recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.”
Cockrell is also considering an applied learning internship at PPD. Located here in Wilmington, PPD is a leading global contract research organization (CRO) with offices in 30 countries and clients and partners serving pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic, and government organizations. Jen plans to get both her master’s and undergraduate degrees in 5 years at UNCW through the combined B.S./M.S. Program.
Kim Proukou ‘06M, Atom by Atom: Molecular Design, Arts & Sciences Magazine, 2008.
