Haylee Payne

Meet Haylee Payne, a second year Human Biology major at the University of California, Santa Cruz! Haylee is a highly motivated sophomore and has been interested in STEM from a very young age. Haylee was a part of Girl Scouts for eleven years and remarked how being a leader through the organization, along with working with her fellow scouts, was the reason why she became so interested in science and female empowerment in STEM! As a college student, Haylee’s passion for science has only grown as she is currently interested in pursuing medicine! Her goal in medicine is to be able to help low-income and underserved communities access healthcare necessities. Haylee is still very early in her college career and is happy to have found an amazing support system in WSS!
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Haylee joined WSS in the Fall 2020 semester and was extremely happy to have found a community of women who were all aspiring STEM professionals. Haylee recalled how over her first two years of college, she was searching for a welcoming and inspiring group that would not only guide her through academic experiences but also become lifelong friends she could share similar experiences with. Haylee is thrilled that she found exactly what she was looking for in WSS and she absolutely loves all the members in her Chapter!

After her first semester of being a part of WSS, Haylee said the organization has come to be a community where she constantly feels empowered and worthy. This community is everything her younger self needed in order to push through challenging times, and is everything her future self will thank her for through the successes she has as a member in the organization. Haylee mentioned how having powerful female role models throughout her life was the reason she is where she is today and having that in a college setting is incredibly important to her. She is so very thankful for the times she has already had with the women in her Chapter and cannot wait for all the future experiences together.
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In addition to WSS, Haylee is a part of the Educational Opportunity Program at her school. She is also involved in various pre-medicine organizations that help the Santa Cruz area and other communities needing health resources, which has been especially helpful during the Covid-19 pandemic. Haylee is very excited for the planned projects her Chapter of WSS has in store for the future, and is looking forward to seeing the amazing impacts on the women throughout her campus and young girls in her community who are looking up to them.
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Haylee’s best piece of advice to her fellow WSS peers is to fight for their passion no matter the obstacles they may face, in persevering and staying optimistic success is attainable! She emphasized that if you know you are passionate about what you are pursuing, you are already destined to succeed!
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Haylee is a very hardworking and driven individual. Her desire to help her community and one day be a practicing physician in an underserved community is truly inspiring! The Women in Science Society is so proud of all Haylee has accomplished in her first two years of college, and looks forward to seeing all she will do in the second of her undergraduate years!