The Honors College has named Ashton Daum Student of the Month for Sept. 2025. Daum is a biology major in the McCollough Institute for Pre-Medical Scholars, as well as a McCollough mentor and ambassador. Daum enjoys hosting ice cream socials for freshmen in the program as part of her mentoring duties and goals.
“As a program Ambassador, I meet weekly with high school McCollough applicants to give building tours, answer their questions and candidly share my experiences,” Daum shared. “My goal is to emphasize teamwork and humility to future cohorts.” Because of her leadership, Daum was named McCollough’s Distinguished Scholar of the Year for 2025.
After participating in Honors Action as a freshman, Daum stayed involved as a group leader and executive member. “As a leader,” Daum stated, “I designed and led an ambitious project where my group of 15 incoming freshmen spent a week leveling hills and weeds, laying sod, and building and painting benches and fences to create an outdoor play area for a local elementary school.”
In addition to her involvement in the McCollough Institute and Honors Action, Daum has been a hall monitor at the Good Samaritan Clinic, a medical assistant and scribe for the GI Clinic and Internal Medicine Associates of Tuscaloosa, as well as shadowing medical professional in various fields.
“Shadowing an OB anesthesiologist, OB/GYN, ophthalmologist, and GP, GI, and pediatric ER doctors within large hospitals and small clinics were crucial determining catalysts for confirming my medical passions,” Daum explained. “It was fascinating and clarified the scope of a doctor’s duties that I was never exposed to as a patient, such as the huge quantity of charting and critical reasoning processes. I admire how these doctors listen to patients and lead with comforting, informed confidence.”
Daum also volunteers at Oasis Hospice and Elara Care, teaches kindergarten Sunday school at New Hope Church, and tutors elementary age students at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship.
“Already valuing individual learning due to my homeschool background, I have further seen how prioritizing education fundamentally changes the trajectory of these children’s lives, and how encouraging it is for them to have caring support,” Daum said.
Daum is also involved in the leadership board, called Servant Team, for Reformed University Fellowship. “I facilitate community by organizing additional outreach events, and have specifically served international students, freshmen and women,” Daum shared. “My goal is intentionality in relationships across age and culture, which I pursue by organizing and hosting craft nights, nail-painting, dinner parties and other events.”
For Daum, her Christian faith is important. “My Christian faith defines my life, so I participate in individual and communal spiritual enrichment,” Daum said.
Daum’s academic and extracurricular involvement have helped her to develop her skills. “Such academic and extracurricular involvement within The University of Alabama’s Honors College has provided ample opportunities for me to develop skills in empathy, communication and teamwork, which I hope to continue honing as I attend medical school in Fall 2026,” Daum said.
Congratulations to Ashton Daum on being named Sept. 2025 Student of the Month!