Like Mother, Like Daughter: Whitman Alums Weave a Legacy of Growth & Giving

Ahn Lee Horn ’91 believes in serendipity. She regularly runs into an old friend from her Whitman College days in random airports around the world. “We call it the ‘Whitman Thing,’ an interconnectedness between Whitties that you can’t predict but is always there when you need it most.”

That “Whitman Thing” is just one example in a lifetime full of experiences, lessons and friendships that have made being an alum a foundational part of Ahn Lee’s life. As a testament to that impact, she’s been a donor to the college for more than 30 consecutive years and, together with her family, established a scholarship endowment in honor of her late father, David Lee Styris.

This spring, she added a new milestone to the list: mom of a Whittie alum. Her daughter, Nina Horn ’25, graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Biology. 

The mother-daughter bond between Ahn Lee and Nina was palpable as the two took a break from moving Nina out of her room just days after commencement to sit down for an interview. They both shared a bittersweet excitement around the conclusion of this incredible chapter and the start of a new one in a place that has become more meaningful for their family with each passing year. 

“Mom talks about her college experience with such fond memories, and now I will too,” Nina says. “So much of how I pictured college was based around my mom’s experiences of Whitman. And now, at the end of my own experience, I can see that so much of my life, even beyond academics, has been shaped by Whitman.”

Finding a Place of Her Own

When Ahn Lee was applying to colleges in the late 1980s, it never occurred to her that Whitman would take such a leading role in her future. 

At first, she worried Walla Walla was just too close to her hometown of Richland, Washington. But after she toured the campus with her parents, her mind changed. She had a strong feeling that Whitman was where she was supposed to be. She was so sure, in fact, that she mailed the deposit for her tuition on the drive home.

“Growing up, education was always the most important thing,” Ahn Lee says. “My dad was a research physicist who spent his life in academia both as a researcher and as a professor at Washington State University. My mom never got a degree past junior college, but she was on many campuses supporting my dad, and I know that was hard for her. She loved taking classes and learning in general.” She was determined that attending college was never going to be a question for her daughter. 

Once Ahn Lee got to Whitman, she was all in on academics and campus life. She majored in Psychology, pledged the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, played on the varsity women’s soccer team, and was involved in the symphony and intramurals.

In her life post-Whitman, Ahn Lee has had a variety of professional experiences: bookkeeping, sign language interpretation, a paralegal certificate, and a legal assistant position for a traffic attorney. Part of the sandwich generation, she also found herself responsible for raising her two children just as both of her parents’ health faltered, and she became their primary caregiver.

“Whitman prepared me for it all by teaching me how to think critically, how to be resourceful, be a lifelong learner, take on new and unfamiliar challenges, say yes to people and things that scare me, and be open to the experiences and views of others,” Ahn Lee says.

While Ahn Lee was busy ensuring that both her family and herself were thriving, she was committed to helping Whitman thrive too. Over 32 years, Ahn Lee and her family supported the W Club Varsity Athletics Fund, women’s varsity soccer, varsity swimming and the Upward Together campaign. In 2023, together with her mom, Patricia Joan Fikel Styris, Ahn Lee established the David Lee Styris Scholarship Endowment in honor of her dad. 

After he left academia, Styris spent the remainder of his career running a research lab at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) at Battelle in Richland. 

“I think my dad would have given every penny he had to higher education, and to Whitman specifically because he loved this campus so much,” Ahn Lee says. “He loved teaching, he loved college campuses, he loved that environment, and that was what really made me want to set up a scholarship in his honor.”

The Next-Gen Whittie

Nina’s journey to Whitman has many parallels to her mom’s—another “Whitman Thing” they share.  

“Whitman wasn’t necessarily my first choice either,” Nina says. “I grew up coming to campus, and my mom’s closest friends went here. So much of my life has involved Whitman. Since I had been on campus so many times, I didn’t think that I would have a big moment while touring campus like my mom did, but that is actually what decided it for me.”

Much like her mom, the decision was made before they even made it home to North Bend, Washington. While waiting in line at the drive-thru at the iconic Walla Walla burger joint Ice-Burg after her campus tour, Nina tapped the “Accept Enrollment” button on the admission offer she’d received from Whitman.

“Suddenly, I was looking at Whitman as the place I would go, instead of just my mom’s alma mater,” she remembers.

Nina was initially a Psychology major like her mom, but during Associate Professor of Chemistry Tim Machonkin’s General Chemistry course as a first-year, she discovered a passion for science. 

“I remember I was taking a test during second semester, and I looked up in the middle of it and realized I was the only girl in the room. I thought, ‘This is kind of cool. I can do this.’” Nina says. Her first year advisor, Heidi Dobson, the Spencer F. Baird Professor of Biology, gave her the push she needed to commit to the new track: She changed her major to Biology.

As Nina started to weave her own narrative at Whitman, her list of extracurriculars began to stack up just like her mom’s: member of the Alpha Phi sorority, choreographer for three theater productions, President of the Whitman chapter of the American Association of University Women, member of the Order of Omega and, most recently, Senior Fund Philanthropy Chair.

During her junior year, Nina also studied abroad in Denmark. She lived with a host family and participated in a “pre-pre-med” program, as she describes it. The opportunity afforded her a chance for hands-on experiences that most students don’t see until their graduate school years or beyond: reading CT scans, using an ultrasound machine, and even tying surgical knots and sutures. That experience solidified her interest in pursuing medical school and becoming a physician. 

For several years now, she has also worked as an Undergraduate Proteomics Intern at PNNL in a lab near the one her grandfather once ran. There, Nina studies proteins and how they interact with each other, specifically as it relates to disease pathology in Alzheimer’s. She wrote her thesis on the research she’s been conducting at the lab and planned to keep her position there after graduation while she strategizes the next steps toward her goal. 

Spreading the Spirit of Giving

When she took on the role of Senior Fund Philanthropy Chair, Nina was tasked with engaging the Class of 2025 to donate to The Whitman Fund. The annual campaign supports student scholarships for the next generation of Whitties and is gifted by the graduating class each year.  

Nina’s goals were bold: 15% class participation, the highest since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The campaign didn’t just meet the lofty goal, it far surpassed it. With 143 students participating—33% of the senior class—it was the highest number of donors in the past seven years. 

“I focused most on outright participation. I wanted people to understand that this fund goes straight back into the school and students like themselves—to scholarships and student aid. Almost 95% of Whitman students are here on some kind of scholarship, so this is really important.”

The impact of the funds will be felt immensely by current and future students, and you can see how meaningful that is to Nina. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that when asked where she gets what she refers to as her“philanthropic muscle,” Nina simply looks at her mom and smiles. “Everything my mom is and everything she does is so selfless, she’s constantly giving back to people.”

That desire to give back seems to be one more “Whitman Thing” that Ahn Lee and Nina now share.