Open up to page 186 of the October issue of Glamour Magazine and you may see a familiar face: Carolyn Kloek '98, who the magazine has honored as one of this year's "Top Ten College Women."
Kloek is featured with the nine other winners of the 1997 Top Ten College Women Competition in a six-page story.
Each year the magazine picks ten female college seniors from a pool of applicants, who have requested consideration the year before. Glamour, which has run the contest for 40 years, said that each of this year's winners have "the muscle and brains to change the country."
Kloek, a biochemistry and molecular biology major, is a Presidential Scholar as well as the recipient of the College's Katharine Booth Brock Prize for outstanding service. She has done extensive research on such topics as anorexia and sexual abuse, and hopes to become a pediatrician.
In answer to the magazine's question, "If your philosophy of life were summarized on a T-shirt, what would it say?" Kloek replied, "Do what you gotta do -- but have fun, you only live once!"
She also told the magazine, "I want to be a successful pediatrician, help families -- and have my own family."
Kloek became involved in Glamour's search for ten top college women after receiving a letter from the dean's office asking if she would like to be nominated for the competition.
In an interview yesterday, Kloek said she was "completely surprised" and "honored" to be selected by the magazine.
"When I sent in my application last December I thought my winning was a longshot and had nearly forgotten about the competition by the time June rolled around," she said.
Kloek said Glamour wanted colleges to make nominations based on Grade Point Average and "initiative they had seen in students."
She said wrote an essay describing her "most meaningful achievement in college" and "how it related to her long term goals."
Kloek chose to write about two clinical studies she has been working on. One study focused on the long term effects on women's health caused by anorexia nervosa, while the other dealt with the long term effects of sexual abuse, Kloek said.
During a leave term, Kloek worked with Dr. Richard Kreipe of Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y. She formulated a "structured interview" questionnaire and interviewed "well over 100 people" who had received treatment for anorexia nervosa over the past four years or more.
Kloek used the information she received to construct a database for analysis. She then presented her findings "as an abstract and a poster at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies."
Currently Kloek is conducting a similar study on sexual abuse with Dr. Claudia Zayfert at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, as a participant in Dartmouth's Presidential Scholar program.
In addition to the essay, she sent a list of her college achievements and a photo. The information was reviewed by a selection committee, and in mid-June, Kloek was told by Glamour that she was one of the Top Ten.
She was flown to New York for a photo shoot and interviews for the magazine in late June. She returned to New York for a prize weekend paid for by the magazine last week.
Glamour rewarded this year's Top Ten with $1,000, the opportunity to meet with top professionals in the winner's field and, of course, national recognition in Glamour.
The article featured nine other women from various colleges around the country, including the University of Chicago, Cornell University, the University of Michigan and Yale University.
Juniors hoping to follow in Kloek's footsteps shouldn't fret -- the magazine is accepting applications for the 1998 Top Ten College Women Competition through mid-November.
