{"id":750,"date":"2020-10-19T13:39:41","date_gmt":"2020-10-19T17:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/magazine\/?p=750"},"modified":"2020-10-26T13:05:42","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T17:05:42","slug":"oozing-with-drive-and-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/magazine\/oozing-with-drive-and-talent\/","title":{"rendered":"Oozing with Drive and Talent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Honors College student Kim Merfert experiences much of life, giving her training that can help her realize a dream to become an author.<\/em> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After a long day of yard work in the humid heat of June, the man headed back inside \u2026 where he collapsed and stopped breathing. Heat stroke. An emergency medical responder with the Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department in Collegedale, Tennessee, Kim Merfert immediately began CPR when she arrived at the man\u2019s house, keeping him alive until the ambulance got there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man survived. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to think the experience would be frightening, but the adrenaline you feel while being in the middle of the situation drowns out whatever anxiety or fear a medic would feel,\u201d says Merfert, an Honors College student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. \u201cUsually it\u2019s after, when I can catch my breath and the ambulance has arrived, that I usually feel the tension and stress the incident has caused to my system,\u201d she explains. \u201cThat\u2019s when I just have to take a few deep breaths and let the emotions slide through.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saving people\u2019s lives is just one of the things Merfert may find herself doing on any given day. School, work, fire department, writing a book. Even learning how to play ukulele. \u201cNon-stop\u201d seems inadequate. \u201cI seem to have a habit of doing that. I just do not learn,\u201d she says with a wry smile. \u201cI\u2019ve always been someone who\u2019s moving and doing something. I feel that, if I\u2019m not doing anything that I think is helpful or not learning, then I feel very stagnant.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI usually know I\u2019m trying to juggle too much when I start slipping in one area, and that\u2019s how I know it\u2019s time to give myself a break. However, I also get used to the chaos and it becomes the new \u2018norm.\u2019 \u201d <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

No stagnation here. At UTC, Merfert is a double major in International Studies and communications and humanities. She\u2019s a double minor in Psychology and English: Creative Writing. She works 10 to 30 hours a week at Target as a \u201cstyle consultant.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s just a fancy word for working in the clothing department,\u201d she shrugs. Oh, and she\u2019s learning to play ukulele in the Honors College Innovation Lab. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid all her running, working and strumming, she does have time for self-reflection. \u201cI ask myself, \u2018What have I gotten into?\u2019 pretty often,\u201d she says. \u201cI usually know I\u2019m trying to juggle too much when I start slipping in one area, and that\u2019s how I know it\u2019s time to give myself a break. However, I also get used to the chaos and it becomes the new \u2018norm.\u2019 \u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borderline chaos may circle around like a swarm of bees, but one of her instructors says she\u2019s impressed with Merfert\u2019s bravery and dedication. \u201cEven though it was only the third week of the academic year, Kimberly had shown her courage and intellect with authentic contributions to each engagement that has required her to be vulnerable, creative, uncomfortable and willing,\u201d said Angela Dittmar, who teaches the Honor College Innovation Lab. So when does she have time to relax, take a breath? \u201cUsually while driving home in the car,\u201d Merfert laughs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, while earning an associate\u2019s degree in communications at Chattanooga State Community College, Merfert was training from 6-10 p.m. three days a week to be an EMR, learning, among other tasks, how to splint a broken limb, insert a trachea tube, deal with a drug overdose, even procedures to birth a baby. \u201cIt has definitely made me look at the world differently. I love what I do and I very much encourage others to do something for their own communities as well,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it might seem like something squeezed into her schedule as an afterthought, writing is Merfert\u2019s passion, what she wants to pursue when she graduates from UTC, which she figures will take two to three years. \u201cWhat I really want to be is an author because I really want to be able to create my own world and have my characters do crazy things that normally wouldn\u2019t happen in real life.\u201d The desire to create has been with her pretty much forever. Starting when she was about eight, she and friends would write plays then head to the living room to perform them to Mom and Dad. \u201cWhatever we could find in my toy box, we\u2019d dress up and go for it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for her writing, she\u2019s already written one book, Secrets in the Heart<\/em>, a 70-page novel put together as an assignment for NaNoWriMo, a national nonprofit that tries to foster kids\u2019 creativity. She wrote it when she was a fifth-grader. The book is available on Amazon.com for $8.99 with a description that reads: \u201cThis book is about a 12-year-old girl named Megan Sydney, but she`s not exactly normal. Megan goes through some crazy things that change her life forever. Can she handle the weirdest month ever?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merfert begs you not to search for the book. \u201cDo not go looking for it. Do not buy it. It\u2019s so <\/em>bad.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Honors College student Kim Merfert experiences much of life, giving her training that can help her realize a dream to become an author.  After…\n","protected":false},"author":1105,"featured_media":1207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[101011,115746],"tags":[101025,24370],"coauthors":[100988],"class_list":{"0":"post-750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fall-2020-edition","8":"category-feature","9":"tag-bottom","10":"tag-overflow","11":"cs-entry","12":"cs-video-wrap"},"yoast_head":"\nOozing with Drive and Talent - UTC Magazine Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Oozing with Drive and Talent - 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