Jason Kaiya heads to med school
Jason Kaiya, who was born in Nairobi, Kenya and grew up in Rochester, Minnesota, will be graduating this winter with a bachelor’s in genetics and genomics. In this Q&A, he explains why he chose the genetics major, his meaningful involvement in the CALS Quickstart program, and his advice for other CALS students. In the future, he plans to travel to Kenya to serve and do mission, and then apply to medical school. You can watch his video interview at the bottom of the page or on YouTube.
Why did you choose your major? What was the most interesting or the coolest thing you learned?
I really enjoyed learning about genetics in AP Biology in high school. I knew I was pre-med but I didn’t want to major in biology to learn about plants or ecology. So, genetics seemed like the best pick for me. In my Genetics 677 class this semester, I have learned that our adult stem cells — cells that can basically become anything — are even more specialized than I thought. They are heavily regulated to only activate when necessary to prevent unrestricted growth, which leads to cancer.
What student organizations, groups, and other activities were you involved in?
During my time at UW, I was a part of the Badger Catholic and Anatomy Club for student organizations. I was also a part of the Mercile J. Lee Scholars program which honored me with a full-tuition scholarship. This program focuses on scholarship, leadership, and service, so I was able to grow in these areas with my cohort over the last couple of years and made some lifelong friends. I was also heavily involved at St. Paul’s Catholic Student Center where I helped lead men’s groups, put together retreats, and helped volunteer at several events.
What are your future academic and/or career plans, short-term and long-term?
My short-term academic goals after graduation are to go to Kenya — where I was born — and to serve and do mission there for 3-6 months. Long-term, I will be applying for medical school in the spring and will hopefully begin medical school in the fall of 2026.
What were the most valuable and/or meaningful experiences you had in CALS?
Two experiences specifically come to mind. The first meaningful experience I had with CALS was in participating in CALS Quickstart. This was with a small cohort of students where we took a seminar class the summer before freshman year and got quite literally a “quick-start” on UW academics. The second meaningful experience has been with the CALS Honors in Research Program. This has been an amazing program because it has pushed me to pursue research to a degree I never thought I would. I have been able to meet a lot of great professors and friends through this program.
When you think about your time here as a student, what are you proud of?
I am proud of many things in my time here as a student. I am proud of surviving the 18-credit semesters that I planned into my schedule. I am proud of keeping up with my academics in spite of all of the various activities and responsibilities I had. I would say what I am proud of the most is my dedication to being consistent. When I decided on my major and my career goals, I basically had no backup plan — for better or for worse. But, this mindset helped me to keep pushing forward throughout my time here no matter what came up. I am very happy with where this has gotten me.
Do you have any advice you’d like to share with CALS students?
The biggest piece of general advice I can share is that academics are hard but it is a privilege to go to this school and to be able to learn. When you are thinking about how much you dislike school or that one TA who is allergic to giving full points, remember that there are many people in the world who will never receive formal education. Remember the history of our country and the people who struggled and died to give you this opportunity.
The biggest piece of practical advice I can give is to get a mentor and surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. This mentor can be an older student, faculty, or perhaps someone in your future career, but someone who can constantly guide you during your journey. There’s a cliche saying that you are the five people you hangout with the most. So from one aspect, having people smarter than you will really help you out. But more importantly, you will become a better scholar and grow in humility by doing this. You will never be the smartest, tallest, most creative…but, you can appreciate other people and yourself if you do this right.
What do you like most about being a CALS student?
What I really like most about being a CALS Student has been the flexibility and availability. There is really such a broad category of majors that you can choose from so I have gotten to meet a lot of interesting people. What I also have really enjoyed is that CALS is a smaller school. This means that professors and CALS faculty are easier to access for questions and also for opportunities.
If you had to eat one Babcock ice cream flavor for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Orange Custard Chocolate Chip ice cream. All I can say is that I heard the name, thought it would be terrible, and I was so incredibly wrong. It is delicious and I will never judge another food by its name again.
What’s your favorite thing about the city of Madison?
My favorite thing about the city is driving into the city from John Nolen Dr. at night. You can see the shining city with the capitol as the jewel right between our two lakes. This entrance to the city simply never gets old and I will miss it when I graduate.