OSULA Announces 2024-25 Scholarship Recipient – Lexi Stallkamp of Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. (Palos Verdes Peninsula H.S.)

LOS ANGELES – Lexi Stallkamp of Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., has been selected as the 2024-25 scholarship winner of The Ohio State University Alumni Club of Los Angeles (OSULA), it was announced today by the club’s scholarship committee co-chairs, President Micah Pycraft and Leanne Suter. 

A Palos Verdes Peninsula High School graduate, Stallkamp will begin her studies this fall at OSU’s Columbus campus after being awarded OSULA’s $9,000 scholarship, which is open to all local Southern California high school graduates.

“Ohio State has been my dream school for as long as I can remember,” says Stallkamp, who finished her high school career with an impressive 4.5 GPA (3.9 unweighted).  “The moment I received my acceptance letter, I knew it was where I wanted to spend the next four years of my life.

“My family has a long line of Buckeye alumni,” she explains, “dating back to my great-great-uncle Gilbert Stallkamp and great-grandpa Albert Stallkamp, continuing through my dad, Mike Stallkamp, along with various aunts, uncles, and cousins. Growing up, I was immersed in Ohio State football culture, and I was raised as an Ohio State fan.  When it came time for college applications, applying to OSU was an obvious choice.”

With all this Buckeye blood running through her veins, how did her immediate family end up in South California?  According to Lexi, her father Mike graduated from OSU in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering. He was interviewed on campus through Ohio State by Hughes Space and Communications, was invited to a plant visit in Los Angeles during winter break of his senior year and was then offered a job to start in June immediately after graduation. 

“My father worked for the same company throughout his whole 35-year career, all thanks to Ohio State,” says Stallkamp, proud to follow in her father’s footsteps by continuing her education in Columbus.

During her high school career, Lexi was a member of the Principal’s Advisory Council, the Palos Verdes Assembly and a seal-bearing member of California Scholarship Federation. She participated in student civic engagement as a delegate to the Parent Teacher Student Association’s Capitol Convoy, where she was selected to advocate to senators and assembly members for increased funding for California schools’ facilities and mental health training for staff.

As a six-year member of the National Charity League (NCL), Stallkamp also volunteered with numerous philanthropies, assisted disabled children with their physical and mental therapies. Additionally, she was an ambassador for the Palos Verdes Peninsula High School “Walk for Life,” raising $40,000 by promoting and planning activities to raise awareness for cancer foundations and helping lead, set-up and organize event day activities.

For fun, Lexi is a horse enthusiast.  She has ridden horses with the Skyline Farms Horses barn in Rolling Hills Estates and competed locally with her trainer and a horse she leased. She trained twice a week for herself, while also assisting younger trainees with lesson preparation, handling horse feeding and cleaning tack and stalls for three horses. In addition to horses, she enjoys indoor rock climbing, sharing the sport with her brother.  She plans to join a rock-climbing club at Ohio State to continue developing her skills, as well as tap into the legendary school spirit she has learned so much about.

“The incredible school spirit was one of many draws for me,” reveals Stallkamp. “I grew up watching Ohio State football and rooting for the Buckeyes. I can’t wait to be at my first game at the Horseshoe.”

Another major draw for Stallkamp was Ohio State’s Psychology Department, home to the Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Brain Imaging (CCBBI), where the Vision & Cognitive Neuroscience Lab can be found.  The lab, also known as the “Golomb Lab,” explores the interactions between visual attention, memory, perception, and eye movements using a combination of methodologies like human behavior, neuroimaging and computational analyses.

“I’m very interested in the Golomb Lab and one day working with Dr. Julie Golomb on her research into cognitive neuroscience and how the brain interprets the world,” says Stallkamp, “and I hope to be able to work with her as a student on campus.”        

Pursuing a research position in the Golomb Lab is all a part of Stallkamp’s master plan to eventually enter a career in law enforcement utilizing specialized and sophisticated skills to track and catch perpetrators.

“As I start my time at Ohio State this fall, I’ll be pursuing a double major in psychology and criminology,” she foresees. “I hope to attend graduate school and eventually join the FBI, focusing on counterterrorism or profiling.”

So where did her interest in law enforcement come from? According to Lexi, it was first sparked by a presentation she witnessed as a ninth grader, and then solidified by none other than – Hollywood!

“I was part of a philanthropic organization called National Charity League, and once a year we would have a speaker come and talk to us about empowerment, mental health, and related topics,” expounds Stallkamp. “Our 9th grade year the speaker was a former FBI agent who had done work in the field. Listening to her got me more interested in jobs around law enforcement and I started watching lots of movies and shows that involved the CIA, FBI and Secret Service.

“Eventually I made my way to Criminal Minds, and the idea of being a profiler just made so much sense to me,” she clarifies.  “I love learning about why people make the decisions they do and what drives criminals to break the law and how we can figure out better or more efficient ways to capture them.”

When Lexi attends Ohio State this fall, don’t expect her to be one of the typical freshmen easily spotted perusing a campus map with that puzzled look on their face.  She already knows her way around the Oval and beyond.

“I’ve lived in Palos Verdes my entire life, but I’ve visited Ohio quite a bit while growing up because my grandparents and other family still live there,” reports Stallkamp. “We would walk Ohio State’s campus every time we visited so I grew up knowing the school.”

While many students understandably enter college without a firm grasp on their career goals, it is clear Lexi has been formulating definite plans about her future for a while.  She’s enthusiastic about her new opportunity to spread her wings and fly far outside the familiar confines of Palos Verdes Peninsula and its breathtaking views of Catalina Island and the Pacific Ocean, a place she has called home for all of her 18 years.

“Coming from a large high school with a graduating class of almost 600 students who I have known virtually since kindergarten, I knew I wanted a big college experience,” confides Stallkamp.  “The idea of meeting new people and seeing different faces every day was incredibly appealing to me.

“While I love my hometown,” she adds, “I’m ready to broaden my horizons, make new friends, join clubs, and get involved in the vibrant school community. Plus, I can’t wait to cheer on the Buckeyes at football games.”

Spoken like a true Buckeye!

-OSULA-