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Damaris Odhiambo

Damaris Odhiambo is a native of Nairobi, Kenya, who moved with her family to the United States in 1999. Her first language is Luo, but she is also fluent now in English and would like to learn other languages. She aspires to a career in journalism, or perhaps in international relations, working with organizations such as the United Nations.

She was elected secretary of her freshman and sophomore classes at HVA, and served as a member of the Student Senate her junior year. As a senior, she will be the editor of the HVA Post.

Damaris is an alto in HVA's Gospel Choir and is a member of the Lady Tartans varsity basketball and soccer teams, as well as the men's varsity soccer team. She also plays the piano and hopes to minor in piano performance when she goes to college. Her tastes in music are quite eclectic, ranging all the way from "a little" hip-hop, through Gospel, to classical.

Her favorite pleasure reading is in historical fiction, such as Alex Haley's Roots.

Damaris is the daughter of Lameck and Eucabeth Odhiambo and lives with her family in Waynesboro, Pa. Her dad is a biosystems engineer and her mother is a professor of education at Shippensburg State University. Her younger brother, Edward, attends seventh grade at Mount Aetna Adventist School.

The summer of 2007 will find Damaris returning to Kenya for the first time since she left as a child. She will participate in a mission outreach to her mother's native village.

In the judgment of HVA's faculty, Damaris best exemplifies the role of academic, spiritual, musical, and athletic leadership we saw in Karen's life during her years at HVA.