LaTina is from Flomaton, AL and entered USA as a freshman. She received a Presidential Scholarship all four years at USA and graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA. While at South, LaTina not only excelled in coursework, but also served as a teaching assistant for our introductory biology courses and participated in research from her sophomore year on. Her honor’s research focused on the effects of a seagrass pathogen, on the expression of plant defense compounds in the seagrass Thalassia testudinum. She has presented the results of this work several national meetings.