Wellington resident and Dreyfoos School of the Arts graduate Kayla Adams has graduated from the University of Florida summa cum laude with a double major. She also received the Outstanding Four-Year Scholar Award.
Adams graduated with majors in fine arts and linguistics and a 3.9 grade point average. She was one of five graduating students, out of thousands in the Liberal Arts School, to receive this award. Adams’ interests have ranged from sculpture and African agriculture to fireflies. In 2009, she spent a semester studying woodcarving in a rural community in the Bahamas.
Adams completed two major research projects. One examined the ways ambiguity can be processed in both language and vision, exploring their parallels and differences. The other project was a yearlong study of perforated forms in nature. She has presented her range of work at seven art shows, including two solo exhibits.
Adams has sought to expand art into other disciplines, and she coordinated several projects between artists and scientists. She established ScArt, an official science and art student organization, and the blog Art/Science Collective. Adams said her most valued academic achievement was the creation of “Analogous Thinking in Arts and Sciences,” a course and lecture series she developed with UF professors and one for which she served as a teaching assistant. The initiatives she fostered brought nationally recognized artists and scientists to the university. She has received numerous awards for her work in science and the arts, including one from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Adams also spent time outside of student artistic endeavors. She taught crochet as a UF leisure instructor and partnered with second-language learners at the English Language Institute to help them improve their English. She was a mentor for the Collegiates Helping As Mentors in Public Schools (CHAMPS) and the Golden Door, a program for the social and financial rehabilitation of the homeless.
Adams moved to Wellington with her parents Ilene and Norm Adams and sister Rachel in 2003. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in studio art.
Above: Kayla Adams
