{"id":129208,"date":"2022-09-19T10:53:58","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T14:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=129208"},"modified":"2023-02-06T14:34:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T19:34:31","slug":"finding-the-right-fit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2022\/09\/19\/finding-the-right-fit\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding the right fit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Yakai Kamara, a public health and organizational leadership major, has done a lot to find her place after transferring to Wright State.<\/p><\/div>\n

Yakai Kamara transferred to Wright State University as the COVID-19 restrictions began. In a sense, the pandemic and her being in an earlier health crisis represent why she made the move. That, and to be among others who, like her, love other cultures and entrepreneurial spirit.<\/p>\n

A native of Sierra Leone in western Africa, Kamara moved with her family to Columbus when she was 14. After high school, Kamara enrolled at a college near Columbus but soon found that wanting.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that time, it didn\u2019t have enough diversity \u2013 there was no one like me,\u201d Kamara said. \u201cI wanted a college close to my family in Columbus that was diverse and with a variety of majors.\u201d<\/p>\n

A friend who was in Wright State\u2019s African Student Union reached out to Kamara, offering to give her a personal tour. She liked what she heard about Wright State, and what she saw \u2014 especially the tunnel system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate being in the snow,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That tour and her research into the university drew her in, and she transferred to Wright State.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut COVID came,\u201d she said. \u201cI went through with the transfer anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like other students at the time, she took her classes remotely from her Columbus home.<\/p>\n

She started taking classes in-person on-campus last academic year and continued with her public health major<\/a>; this summer she added organizational leadership<\/a> as a second major.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I transferred, I was a biology major, but I took a global public health class, and that became my true passion. I want to do research and become an epidemiologist,\u201d Kamara said.<\/p>\n

Driving that passion is the low level of public health \u2014 especially in the area of maternal health \u2014 in Sierra Leone. She wants to eventually do something to improve those conditions.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Sierra Leone, Kamara recalls when her native country was hit with the Ebola health crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiving through Ebola was terrible,\u201d she said. \u201cI saw a lot of people die. No one close to me did, but we were all worried for our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Kamara made moves to connect with her classmates.<\/p>\n

She joined the African Student Union and this year became its president. She joined the Korean Club because of her fondness for Korean films, saying, \u201cI wanted someone to watch them with.\u201d She also joined the Chinese Club.<\/p>\n

All of this was her way of immersing herself in other cultures to satisfy her desire to be part of a diverse student body.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s her other major and the other aspect of her personality.\u00a0 \u201cI took organizational leadership because I wanted to learn leadership skills,\u201d she said. \u201cI also have a passion for business.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a passion she\u2019s acting on with her own hair and makeup business called Kaii\u2019s Touch in Columbus and a clothing boutique she is shifting to Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI turn some of my hobbies into business,\u201d she said. \u201cMy family is business-oriented, which motivates me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which leads to another facet of Wright State that appeals to her: the number of her fellow students who have their own businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s interesting to meet someone who is similar to me business-wise. Some are Black like me and still trying their best to have a business and keep up with school at the same time,\u201d she said. “I like that Wright State showcases students and their businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kamara is a senior on track to graduate at the end of the 2023 Summer Semester. She then intends to apply to Wright State\u2019s Graduate School.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a public health master\u2019s degree<\/a> here. I want to look into that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Kamara added of her Wright State experience, \u201cSo far, I\u2019m fitting in OK.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yakai Kamara, a public health and organizational leadership major, has done a lot to find her place after transferring to Wright State. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":129232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,2104,744,4896,2016,715,4878,746,4298],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-teacher-education","category-education-human-services","category-leadership-studies-in-education-organizations","category-medicine","category-news","category-public-health-medicine","category-science-mathematics","category-student-profile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129208"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129282,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129208\/revisions\/129282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}