At ease and a great conversationalist, with a smile that doesn’t end, biology major and pre-dentistry Leadership Fellow, Kadeem Colburn ’18, is the epitome of a scholar-athlete who knows what it means to be in various forms of motion. In addition to his academic responsibilities for his major, Kadeem found himself an internship shadowing Dr. Gulia Omene at Omene Cosmetic and Family Dentistry in Paoli, PA a couple of hours per week. He is also engaged in research with Dr. Meg Laakso in the biology department; last semester working on a bioinformatics project and this semester working with a few other students on a plant based cloning project.
What makes this remarkable is that he does all this while playing defense for the Eastern Men’s lacrosse team, a sport he has played for all four years of his college career. He says of the coach and team, “The reason I decided to join this team was because of the tight knit family that Coach Wallace has created. The team is very understanding of one another and is always trying to strengthen bonds within the team and in the community. What I like about this team the most is that Coach Wallace pushes kids to get involved in other things on campus. He supports the character it brings to the team and likes to see athletes venturing outside of the locker room and indulging in more academic activities. This team has given me the necessary support to juggle everything that I want to do on and off the lacrosse field. There is no other team I would rather play for.” Point in fact, Coach Wallace has let Kadeem leave a team activity and run across campus to have a quick chat with me for this article, even though there was a game later that night.
While on the surface it might look as if Kadeem has always had it all figured out, he explains, “Prior to Eastern I was quite content with just being still; however, my time at Eastern University has always pushed me to be in forward motion. It has gotten to the point that I do not ever want to slow down. Eastern has given me plenty of opportunities to participate in various academic and social events that encourage constant thinking. Both major organizations that I have been a part of have pushed me to do more and further myself as a more complete person. Particularly, the Leadership Fellows program has taught me what it means to be the best servant I can be.”
Assistant Athletic Director and Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach Kevin Wallace told me, “Kadeem is a one of a kind student athlete. Kadeem has been one of our top players for the last 3 years while also going through one of the toughest majors on campus. This season Kadeem only practices two or three days a week at most, because of his labs and academics. Most students wouldn't be able to keep a high level of play with that much time missed. Kadeem is so dedicated and has an extremely high work ethic that he still maintains his high level of athletic play while missing so much time. Kadeem is what every coach wants in a student athlete. He represents Eastern Men's Lacrosse to the fullest and is going to be a great ambassador for years to come.”
After graduation Kadeem plans to go to graduate school for a Master’s in Oral Health at Boston University and then on to dental school. After a family summer visit out to the west coast he fell in love with the state of Washington, and a long term goal would be to move out there to practice dentistry and teach himself piano.
When talking about the impact his advisor Dr. Maria Fichera had on his experience Kadeem said, “She has spent countless hours guiding me to how I can, one day, get to dental school. The beginning stages were rough, but she never showed signs of worry and continued to push me towards my goals. If anything, she showed me that, regardless of your current situation, there is always a way to achieve your goals.”
When reflecting on his four years at Eastern Kadeem said when he initially came to Eastern things felt different and out of place and he was wondering if he should go somewhere more comfortable. He says, “That would have been one the biggest mistakes of my life! What is college without those eye-opening experiences? My time at Eastern has taught me to gravitate towards the uncomfortable as it builds the most character. Conversations at Eastern spark new ideas and refine old ones in ways that I do not think I would have gotten at other schools. It has been humbling, and I have so much to learn from this school and not enough time to do it. If I could only have five more minutes.”
This article was originally featured in the Spring/Summer 2018 Edition of Eastern Magazine. View the full magazine here.
