Meeting Mary Klayder in 2009 inspired then high schooler Karen Campbell to come to the University of Kansas – it’s a decision that sparked journeys across the world with study abroad, a passion for travel writing and connections that last a lifetime.
Each trip has roused different passions for Karen, a Lawrence native who is pursuing an English major with a minor in sociology. In Costa Rica, she discovered a love for travel writing, which is now the focus of her senior honors thesis. Exploring literature in the UK and completing language requirements in Italy have been some of the most valuable personal and educational experiences of Karen’s life. And now Karen is studying the impact of climate change on food, water, and energy in marginalized communities in Vietnam, Morocco and Bolivia with the International Honors Program.
While travel has been pivotal to Karen, it’s the people she’s met across the world, and here on The Hill, that have been the heart of her KU College experience. And at the center of it is the person who started it all – Mary Klayder.