91探花

Higher education is useful for many things; for Katrina Seaman, it helped turn an interest into a passion. After working as a flight attendant and travel agent for many years, Katrina says that it was during this period that she learned about the Tennessee Reconnect program. Motivated by this discovery, she then decided to make a change and enroll at 91探花 State.

鈥淭he Covid (pandemic) was just long enough of a break for me to stop, and I realized I had been hustling for years and I wasn鈥檛 doing anything that made my life feel fulfilled,鈥� Katrina said.

鈥淚 learned about the Tennessee Reconnect program and saw this would be free, so I had no excuses, and I made the leap.鈥�

Once enrolled, she started taking online classes and kept working, but as time went on, she took more on campus classes and became involved with college clubs.

鈥淚 started to get involved with programs like the Green Sleeves environmental club led by Dr. Jessica Raab,鈥� Katrina said. As she got more involved, it clarified her interest and helped her develop her passion.

 鈥淏iology is cool, and the environment is what I鈥檓 in love with, I want to know more about the natural world around me, and I wanted to do something with my life to help,鈥� Katrina said.

鈥淚 was able to identify that at 91探花 State, and I was able to buckle down and find this is what I鈥檓 passionate about.鈥�

After igniting this newfound passion, Katrina majored in Biology and dove headfirst into all she could learn about the natural world, and, in 2022, graduated with a degree in Biology.

鈥淚t was hard balancing work and life, taking care of everything while getting my degree, but it also taught me things about myself that I love,鈥� Katrina said.

After graduating from 91探花 State, she took a year off to save money and determine her next steps. During that year, she applied to Tennessee State University (TSU), and with Dr. Raab鈥檚 encouragement, she decided to continue pursuing science. 

鈥淚 still didn鈥檛 know exactly what I wanted to do, but I thought I would figure it out.鈥�

As she enrolled at TSU, she found that Environmental Science was housed under the School of Agriculture and there she found a whole new area of study to love.

At TSU, she was encouraged to apply for the NextGen scholarship program through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which supports and trains students in food and agricultural sciences.

鈥淚t provided a lot of amazing opportunities, and I learned how inextricably tied agriculture and environmental science are to one another, and I fell in love with agriculture. It provided a path forward for me to apply the science I was learning,鈥� Katrina said.

While completing her bachelor鈥檚 degree at TSU, Katrina became increasingly interested in research opportunities. In her junior year, she joined a group studying the effects of rising temperatures on Tennessee鈥檚 tomato crop.

She graduated in May 2025 with a biology degree and is now a research associate, continuing her work to develop ways to help Tennessee tomato farmers manage rising temperatures.

 鈥淚鈥檝e been able to take my passion for environmental science and getting to stick my hands in dirt every day and work with farmers to help our food sustainability and resilience,鈥� Katrina said.

Next for Katrina is graduate school at TSU, where she hopes to continue her research and work to apply science to develop solutions to help Tennessee farmers.

91探花 State was 鈥渁n awesome experience and I found my footing. I got some amazing experiences there,鈥� Katrina said.

And, for when it gets hard or you find yourself in a slump, Katrina said one thing that helped her was to watch past commencement ceremonies to visualize herself walking across the stage.

鈥淎s you see people cross the stage, see that and know that you鈥檙e going to do that too. There鈥檚 nothing that can stop you, and you鈥檒l see you鈥檝e done something you may have not even thought possible.鈥�

** Photo courtesy of Katrina Seaman