Katherine Anne Doan

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age: 22 | Student | The University of Texas at Austin

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A fifth year senior at The University of Texas at Austin, Katherine Anne Doan graduated with a degree in Plan II Honors (a liberal arts renaissance degree) and will be graduating in 2020 with degrees in Computational Engineering and French Language. The daughter of Jennifer and Darby Doan, Katherine Anne plans on following in her parents’ footsteps. “I love the majors I’m pursuing and am currently planning on continuing my education in law school,” she says.

As a member of the Texas 4000 2019 team, Katherine Anne recently biked from Austin, Texas, to Anchorage, Alaska. “I took the Sierra route which went west through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, then north along the Pacific coast through California, Oregon and Washington, through western Canada and into Alaska,” she explains. “Every member of our team raised a minimum of $4,500, and along our ride we awarded grants to cancer research and support organizations. Despite being someone who hates biking, this has been the most incredible experience, and I have met so many incredible hosts, researchers and people affected by cancer along the way that have changed my life forever.”

Best piece of advice:

“DON’T AIM TO BE SUCCESSFUL. AIM TO BE OF VALUE. YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU PUT YOUR MIND TO, SO PUT YOUR MIND TO EVERYTHING YOUR HEART IS IN, AND YOU’LL NEVER WANT FOR PURPOSE.” —SAMMYE HALTOM, KATHERINE ANNE’S GRANDMOTHER

Katherine Anne’s greatest academic accomplishment was completing her thesis in May and being awarded as a Model Theses for Plan II. The title was “Equal but Separated: Desegregation of Texarkana Public Schools,” and was a historical narrative of the era leading up to and including integration in Texarkana’s schools. Katherine Anne interviewed Texarkana citizens who were students and teachers at the time, read school board minutes from TISD and TASD from 1954-1975 and used the Texarkana Gazette archive at Texarkana College to compile a cohesive narrative of what happened during that time and the social and cultural impact it created. She concludes, “This topic was important to me because as a fourth generation graduate of Texas High School, my family history is deeply entwined with the history of this city and its schools.”

Name something about you that very few people know:

“I memorize poetry for fun!”