By A Fish  

LEXINGTON, Ky –  University of  Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences’ Ambassador Halle Harned is majoring in biology on the pre-med track with the goal of becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon. Her mother went to UK, and she has several family members here who “bleed Blue.” Her background, her family’s health, and her high school experiences led her to pursue her goal.  

“I've always wanted to do medicine,” Harned said. “I was adopted from China, and I had a lot of health concerns as a child, which led me to go into medicine. The cardiothoracic aspect emerged when I took biomedical classes during my high school career. I also took anatomy and physiology, and I gravitated toward medicine.  

“Then it really hit home because my dad's side of the family has many heart concerns, and one of his older brothers, whom I'm close to, started to have extreme heart failure to the point where he's on a pacemaker. He's slowly been getting better — his heart function is improving — but it's been a long ride. Seeing him go through this gave me a personal connection would drive me more to want to stay within the medical field.” 

Harned recalls being anxious and unsure of what to expect from college as she prepared to enter UK, especially the workload involved in her major. She hopes that as an ambassador she can be a liaison to incoming students, introducing them to UK and the College of Arts and Sciences. 

"Making this big campus seem small is huge to people, especially if they're from a small town and being able to find their place in such a huge environment is vital,” said Harned, who’s from Paducah. “I tell students about Greek life and about other affiliations on campus and other ways to be involved. It's rewarding to help students who are in the same position as I was to help calm their nerves and give them a good idea of what they're going to walk into.” 

 

In her spare time, Harned likes to weightlift; she and her roommates often get up at 6 a.m. to walk over to the Johnson Center and work out. Beyond that, she belongs to the Asian American Association and the Medlife, Public Health Club. She’s also a Wildcat Ambassador, and she volunteers at the Baptist Hospital. She thinks her volunteer and club work is a vital part of the student experience to get involved in associations and societies. 

“I'm not a public health major, but getting some understanding in that area and seeing that aspect is important to me,” Harned said.  

Her advice to incoming freshmen includes making sure they have a firm goal in mind, The more students know about what they’re going to do, the better they can master their time and talents in pursuit of their goals.  

“You need to understand why you're doing everything,” she said. “You need to understand why you’re choosing this major. Without having a strong purpose in such a grueling environment, it can be very challenging to push through. Sometimes, you need to take a five-minute break and ask, ‘Why am I doing this?’ You need to be able to just visualize what you want in your life and know where this one is rooted from. That was my biggest hurdle freshmen year.”