Off to the Ivy League

New biology graduate Andrea Appleton (’21) has been granted admission to one of the most prestigious colleges in the United States. Appleton will enter a doctoral program at Harvard this fall where she will study floral evolution in hopes of becoming a professor one day. During her time at Georgia Southern, Appleton has been a standout scholar. The Honors College student was named a Goldwater Scholar, the highest national award for undergraduate students in the STEM majors. In addition, for the last two years, she served as the interim curator of the Georgia Southern Herbarium, the third largest collection of dried plant specimens in Georgia. That was an extraordinary opportunity for an undergraduate.

“Andrea has shown that hard work pays off,” said Steven Engel, Ph.D., dean of the Honors College. “Furthermore, this demonstrates that the quality of the faculty and educational opportunities at Georgia Southern can open doors to wherever a student wants to go.”

The new alumna says she “will miss absolutely everything about the herbarium, but particularly hosting visitors and introducing them to such a cool and unique resource.”