After immigrating from Turkey, she packed her schedule on way to an elite university
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Outstanding 2021 Midlands Graduates
This past year has been a challenging one for most — especially our high school seniors. They shifted to virtual learning and missed out on some the best memories and traditions from high school. The State is highlighting a series of 2021 Midlands grads who have beat the biggest odds, set a high bar for serving and achieving and inspire us to make no excuses in the pursuit of our highest potential. Meet them here.
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From not speaking any English when she moved to Columbia in the third grade, to becoming one of her high school’s busiest and most successful graduates, Doga Ozmen hardly has time to think about the hurdles she’s jumped.
Time? Between playing three sports at Hammond School, interning for a corporate accelerator, competing on the math team, participating in multiple clubs and coordinating a STEM showcase event, Ozmen’s time has been precious — and every minute well spent.
Her ambition and effort are taking her to Duke University in the fall.
“I was part of many clubs and I took a bunch of APs, and for me that was really hard to manage my time and be able to leave some time to just relax by myself,” said Ozmen. “I would say high school really did help me with learning to do that.”
Ozmen emigrated from Turkey with her family when she was 8 years old. She has been at Hammond School ever since, which helped her adjust to life in Columbia in a small class size of around 85 people, she said.
At Hammond, she competed on the soccer, swim and cross country teams. She has been equally competitive in the classroom, developing her technology, math and engineering skills. She’ll be putting those to work at Duke, where she plans to study computer and electrical engineering.
Ozmen should have a big leg up on some of her future classmates, having helped design and build a hover craft with Hammond’s Design Club, which she helped found. As a student intern at Prysmian Group on an accelerator called Corporate Hangar last summer, she worked with engineers developing electric vehicle charging technology.
“I sort of really enjoyed my time there— I fell in love with it,” said Ozmen. “I decided that I wanted to be an engineer and that maybe in the future, I could do what I’m doing in my internship and create my own company as well.”
