Renaissance Girl:
An Interview with Shureice Kornegay
by Dantawn, a Project Exploration
student
Dr. Sean Carroll
of the University of Chicago, Senator Barack
Obama,
Shureice Kornegay, Jean Claude Francois,
Project Exploration
executive director Gabrielle Lyon, and Michelle
Obama.
Photo: M. Greer © John Reilly Photography
Shureice Kornegay became a Junior
Paleontologist in 1999. She is currently
an anthropology major at Northern Illinois
University and is on Dr. Paul Sereno’s
2005 expedition
to Niger.
Dantawn: What is your
name?
Shureice Kornegay (SK): My name is Shureice Kornegay.
Dantawn: What school do
you go to?
SK: I went to Amundsen.
Before that I went to my local school, but
then I went to Amundsen. Now I go to Northern
Illinois University.
Dantawn: And what community
do you come from?
SK: I'm from the North
Side.
Dantawn: What Project
Exploration programs have you been involved
in?
SK: I was in the Junior
Paleontologist program, the Old Trail
Museum internship program, and the Advanced
Paleontology program.
Shureice writing
in the field.
Photo: C. Walker © Project Exploration
Dantawn: How old are you?
SK: I’m 20.
Dantawn: What year are
you in college?
SK: I’m a Junior.
Dantawn: Now I’m
going to ask you some questions on the college.
Describe the college application process
for you.
SK:To be honest, I had
it had it easy, because I had a good counselor
and it is important to have a counselor
you like and are comfortable with. It’s
the truth. You need to have someone you’re
real comfortable asking questions, because
they help you get through this. They can
get you waivers, and all things that you
wouldn’t know if you were doing it
by yourself. So it’s important to
have someone who knows the process better
than you so that you’ll know. I had
a good counselor, so when I had to fill
out my applications I didn’t have
to go through too much.
Dantawn: You didn’t
have to do the essay?
SK: I didn’t have
to do anything but fill out the application,
fill out the waiver, sign on the dotted
line. I was lucky, I don’t know. But
I still got in.
Dantawn: So why did you
choose the college you chose?
SK: I spoke with some
of my mentors, and I had a choice between
Northern and Southern. Honestly I thought
that Southern was a party school, that’s
why I didn’t go. But then I went to
Northern and found out that it was a party
school too. But, I ended up choosing Northern.
Dantawn: Do you have a
major?
SK: Yes. I’m an
anthropology major.
Dantawn: Why did you choose
anthropology?
SK: Because I love science
and I like people. And I like studying about
culture. I’m interested in not just
what people do, but why they do it. I’m
interested in behaviorology and… I
want to know why. That’s all I asked
when I was little, “Why? Why? Why?”
My momma got tired of me. It’s science
and I want to go into because I’m
good at asking questions and I think that
science is for me. And anthropology is something
that I’m really interested in and
I think that it’ll work for me. I
hope I can keep it up.
Junior
Paleontologists Marco Mendez and
Shureice Kornegay in the field.
Photo: P. Sereno © Project Exploration
Dantawn: Describe your
college classes that you take, or the professors,
especially in the science classes that you
take.
SK: I have big classes
and small classes. I mean, there’s
this hall called “Coe Hall.”
Coe Hall is the biggest auditorium hall
ever. I mean, you could have your best friend
in that class and not see him until the
last day before the class is over with.
There are 300 people at least in that classroom
on a slow day. Personally I don’t
like big classes. One time I got into it
with the teacher in front of the whole class.
The teacher was like, “Scientists
believe that big brains equal intelligence.”
That is garbage because Neanderthals had
bigger brains than us. I’s so uncomfortable
asking questions in a huge class. It just
is to me. So I don’t prefer big class
rooms. I like feeling that I can talk to
my teachers, and I don’t feel like
that when it’s a big class.
Dantawn: So you like more
like high school sized classes?
SK: Yes, honestly I do.
When there’s like 20 some students.
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