Louisa Shepard, Penn Today
Mixing it up is what graduating fourth-year Jordyn Harris likes best.
At Penn she has been an applied science in biomedical sciences major while also pursuing a major in gender, sexuality, and women’s studies, and she has had a work-study job in performing arts and another job as a researcher at a hospital. Harris has also been on stage as a dancer and behind the scenes running tech for student shows while also volunteering as an adviser and mentor for engineering students and a member of a performing arts senior society, as well as a sorority for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
“I’m a STEM girl who does performing arts; I like the mix,” Harris says. “I’m always doing something. But I love doing all of the things that I do.”
From Baltimore, Harris will graduate this month with a bachelor’s degree of applied science in biomedical sciences from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences with a second major in gender, sexuality, and women’s studies from the College of Arts and Sciences.
“I’m doing a little bit of everything, and that’s what I think I’ll do with my career generally,” she says. “I want to dive into STEM and medicine but also performing arts as an outlet for my creative side, being in both, and having them interweave with volunteering.”
Harris helped other students as a volunteer orientation peer advisor and an advisor through the Advanced Women of Women in Engineering Preorientation program.
“The thing that is always surprising about Jordyn is how dedicated she is in terms of what she commits to. There’s a sense of responsibility that she has with every role that she’s taken on,” says Sonya Gwak, who until recently was director of student life and undergraduate education, but now is director of global academic programs at Penn Engineering.
“Jordyn’s information has always been reliable because she’ll do her homework and make sure that what she says is accurate. People can depend on her,” Gwak says, including making sure every first-year student is registered for classes. “Because it’s completely voluntary and it because it is a huge undertaking, having somebody like Jordyn in that role is invaluable.”
Harris encouraged engineering students to do performing arts and clubs and other creative pursuits even if that wasn’t what they planned for their careers. “Finding what makes you you, and doing those things in the midst of your career, in the midst of your academics, is key,” she says.