Kendra Franklin Named to USA Today Academic Team

OHIO STATE STUDENT NAMED TO USA TODAY COLLEGE ACADEMIC TEAM

COLUMBUS -- At an age when many of her contemporaries were 
concerned with what to wear, who to play with and what was on 
television, Kendra Franklin was more concerned with getting good 
grades.

"I've recognized since middle school that my grades come 
first," said Franklin, a senior at The Ohio State University.  
"I've always felt that I am in school to learn; everything else 
is secondary."

Franklin, daughter of Kenneth and Patricia Franklin of 
GAHANNA, was named to the USA Today All-USA College Academic Team 
Feb. 8, one of 60 college students nationwide to receive the 
academic achievement recognition.  She maintains a 3.98 grade 
point average in her major of molecular genetics.

"The students chosen were all phenomenal," Franklin said. 
"It is an honor to be mentioned along with them."

Franklin was chosen for her research on promoters of gene 
expression in brain cancer.  She has worked with Ing-Ming Chiu, 
professor of molecular genetics, for the past three years to 
determine the Fibroblast growth factor-1 link with brain cancer.  

The 1992 class valedictorian of Gahanna Lincoln High School, 
Franklin is a National Achievement Scholar, Battelle Memorial 
Scholar, Office of Minority Affairs Distinction Scholar, 
University Scholar, and a Campus Scholar.  She has won numerous 
academic citations and awards and has been named to the 
university's Honor Roll every quarter.

"Kendra is a very mature, talented young woman, who 
succeeds at everything she tries," said Mabel Freeman, associate 
director of the University Honors Program.  "She works hard and 
plays hard, and does everything to the maximum."

Franklin said her mother, an elementary school principal who 
earned her master's degree in education from Ohio State, was a 
guiding force in her choice to attend Ohio State.  Franklin is 
scheduled to graduate summa cum laude spring quarter and plans to 
study internal medicine or cardiology at Stanford, Johns Hopkins 
or Duke universities in the fall. 

An avid enthusiast of science, Franklin was introduced to 
chemistry at an early age by her father, an engineer with Dow 
Chemical.

"He used to take me to work with him into the lab, and 
bought me my first chemistry set," Franklin recalled.  "My 
parents taught me early to study and participate in activities."

Some of the activities Franklin participates in include a 
number of honor societies, Undergraduate Student Government and 
peer mentoring. She was also a member of the 1994 Ohio State 
Homecoming Court.

"I was once asked if I could write my own epitaph, what 
would it be.  I chose a quote by Alfred Lord Tennyson, 'To 
strive, to seek, to find and not to yield,'" Franklin said.  
"This is very representative of my life: constant motion, being 
active all the time, not stopping for anything."

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Contact:  Kendra Franklin, (614) 294-8386.
Written by Tracy Turner, (614) 688-3682.


[Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
               
Fri, 16 Feb 1996 15:55:19 -0500]
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