Merrill Presidential Scholar Lyndsey Wilson

The Merrill Presidential Scholars Program honors the University of Maryland’s most successful seniors and their designated University faculty and K-12 teachers for their mentorship.

This year, the School of Public Health is honored to have two students, Lyndsey Wilson and Taile Lewis, receive the award. We'll talk with Lewis later this week, but today, the Healthy Turtle talked with Wilson, a Kinesiological Science major slated to graduate next Spring, about the award.

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Healthy Turtle: How did you come to be a Presidential Scholar? Take me through the process...

Lyndsey Wilson: Becoming a Presidential Scholar came as a complete surprise to me. I am currently taking Dr. Brown’s class, Children and Sport: A Psychosocial Perspective, and one day after class she asked me to give her a copy of my resume because she wanted to nominate me for an award.

About a week later, I received an email congratulating me on receiving the Merrill Scholar Award--I didn’t even realize that this was what Dr. Brown had nominated for. It is a great honor for me to be able to represent the Kinesiology department as the recipient of this award.

HT: What interests you most about kinesiology?

LW: First, I love sports and physical activity in general, so I find kinesiology to be really interesting because it expounds upon every aspect of this broad field. Specifically, I’ve really taken an interest in the positive adaptations that exercise can have on the body, which I’ve learned a lot about recently in KNES 360 and 464.

HT: What are you most looking forward to about your senior year?

LW: I’m really excited about my senior year. It is going to be a time of preparing for the future while taking some time to reflect on the past and enjoy my last few moments of college. My experiences at Maryland have been some of the best of my life.

So, while I’m definitely looking forward to applying to graduate school and finishing up with my Kinesiology degree. I also want to spend plenty of time with friends because I know that things will never be the same after next year.

HT: What do you hope to do after graduation?

LW: After graduation, I plan to get my doctorate in physical therapy. After that, the sky is the limit!
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For more information on the Philip Merrill Presidential Scholars Program, visit http://www.ugst.umd.edu/merrill/.