Boston University women’s soccer forward Taylor Krebs requested a tutor from Athlete Support Services for her chemistry class freshman year despite her previous academic success.
“It was because she wanted to get the highest mark,” said Phil DeCarlo, director of student athlete support services. “At that point, I knew she was driven.”
One year later, the College of Arts and Sciences sophomore has won a $10,000 Thermo Scientific Pierce scholarship from the medical company Thermo Fisher.
The scholarship, which Krebs received on on Oct. 2., is awarded to students who “demonstrate academic skills along with how their passion for science transcends the lab,” according to a press release.
Krebs, who majors in biology, specializing in cellular molecular genetics, was one of six undergraduate and graduate student to win the awards — four of $5,000 and two of $10,000.
Krebs helped develop “a new, cheaper and faster method to develop viruses,” Zuzanna Siwy, who managed the Siwy Research Laboratory, wrote in an email.
Siwy wrote Krebs learned all of the experiments quickly, and analyzed the data.
“She [Krebs] is very bright and very well prepared to work in an interdisciplinary environment, which is not easy to do,” Siwy wrote.
Krebs said she wrote an essay for the scholarship on how she embodied one of Thermo Fisher’s values: intensity. She said her high academic grades, and participation in a Division 1 soccer team, a 30-hour commitment every week, manifested her intensity.
Krebs volunteered for the Assistance League of Saddleback Valley from seventh grade until she graduated from high school. The organization showed her long-term commitment to a cause, she said. Krebs said she delivered premade meals, among other services, to people who cannot cook for themselves.
“I am a proactive person, I have never been the one to let things be handed to me,” Krebs, of Orange County, Calif., said.
To juggle academics and sports, Krebs said she cannot procrastinate, reads ahead for her classes and gets to know her professors so they can help her by email when she travels with the team.
“It’s a big time-balancing act, but it’s doable,” Krebs said.
Women’s soccer coach Nancy Feldman wrote Krebs a recommendation letter during the application process.
“Not every kid is looking to squeeze every ounce of learning out of every day, and Taylor certainly seems to be one of those kids,” Feldman said in a phone interview from Baltimore, where the team played Thursday.
Krebs said she used to dance, but her father convinced her to try another sport. She agreed to play recreational soccer when her best friend said she would also compete.
“I fell in love with it [soccer], and I have been doing it ever since I was 6, so I can thank my dad for that one,” Krebs said.
Krebs said she applied to the scholarship thinking it could not hurt and was ecstatic when she received it.
“It also helped me to think, ‘yeah, it is worth all the long hours of studying,’” Krebs said.
When DeCarlo received the scholarship email from Thermo Fisher, he immediately sent it to Krebs, he said.
Decarlo said he was shocked when he found out she received the scholarship. The assistant director said his office regularly nominates students for similar awards, but he either never hears back from them or learns that they did not get it.
Siwy wrote in her email she hoped Krebs would come back to work in her laboratory.
“Taylor is naturally curious about science, about how things work and how to connect various pieces of information from different fields in order to solve problems,” Siwy wrote. “I have no doubt she will be an extremely successful researcher and scientist.”
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