In elementary school, most kids dream of being a veterinarian or a firefighter or maybe even a pro athlete, not University of Delaware rower Kaitlyn Thomesen. She was determined to be a lawyer.
“Maybe it was because I liked to argue a lot as a kid?” Thomesen laughed. “Up until third grade, I was focused on becoming a lawyer. That’s what I told everyone I wanted to be.”
That all changed in third grade when she was at a science fair and got to dissect a squid and started to learn the very basics of biology.
“I just loved learning about it. My mom was a nurse, so it quickly became my goal and ever since then I’ve been determined to achieve it,” Thomesen said.
That goal is quickly becoming reality as she will wrap up her MBA in healthcare management later this month, after already completing her degree in quantitative biology.
After graduation, she will head to Arizona for medical school after being awarded a US Navy Health Professions Scholarship, which will pay for all of her medical school costs in exchange for four years of service post-graduation.
“This is something that I’ve always wanted to do and to have the opportunity to take this challenge on, I’m truly excited and grateful,” Thomesen said.
Her focus will be primarily in nephrology and her time will most likely be spent either in California or back here on the East Coast at Walter Reed Medical Center outside of Washington, D.C.
“To have the opportunity to do what I love and serve our soldiers, it’s really humbling. I know that not a lot of people are awarded chances like this, so I consider myself lucky and I’m excited to get to work,” she said.
Conquering new challenges is not unique for the Cromwell, Conn. native.
Thomesen has already climbed to the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa (nearly 20,000 feet). Yes, you read that right.
“I saw a flyer for an opportunity to travel abroad and there were three different groups. I thought Africa looked interesting so I went for it,” Thomesen said.
She spent nearly four weeks in Tanzania, starting off in the coastal town of Zanzibar, before transitioning to rural Arusha and wrapping up the trip at Kilimanjaro.
“It was pretty crazy for all the different climates because it was warm in Zanzibar and it was cooler when we got to Arusha, then obviously when you head up the mountain the temperatures are freezing so packing was quite interesting,” Thomesen said.
Her serving others mindset didn’t stay at home as Thomesen and her group did some construction and spent time in orphanages and schools during her time in Tanzania.
“There were a lot of English majors that I traveled with, so I had the opportunity to work on the math side of things, so it was awesome to be able to work with those children,” she said.
That work didn’t stop after her time in Africa and she continued to work with several of them through email after her return to Delaware’s campus.
“I wanted to be able to try and give them as many tools as possible to succeed so I had given them my email address and would do my best to try and supply some help. There was an older student who was trying to get into secondary school, and it was neat because I was able to help him and he was able to pass those lessons down to the younger kids,” Thomesen said.
Reaching goals and accomplishing things as a team is what Thomesen drives her athletic side.
Thomesen swam competitively for nearly 15 years and came to Delaware as a part of the swim team. However, after her first season, she didn’t have that fire anymore.
“I had just done it for so long and that fire wasn’t there anymore. I didn’t want to do the daily grind anymore,” she said.
That competitiveness and being active spirit of Thomesen didn’t stay quiet long as her attention shifted to rowing.
“I had talked to [head coach] Kevin [Gruber] and [assistant coach] Ryan [Hurley] about the idea of trying my hand at rowing. My cardio was there because of my background in swimming, it was just the technique that I really had to work on,” Thomesen said. “It quickly became something I really loved doing.”
Fast forward four years and Thomesen has been a part of the varsity eight for each of the past three seasons.
Taking on challenges is nothing new for Thomesen and that’s exactly what she’ll do this weekend with her teammates at CAA Championships.
“Getting up early and working so hard together, we’ve become a big family,” Thomesen said. “We’re excited about competing one last time together.”