BLENDING PASSIONS
A love of science and criminal justice led to Dymon Blango’s forensics career
STATISTICS
Name: Dymon Blango
College: Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences
Major: Double major in biology and chemistry, minor in forensic science
Age: 21
Classification/Year: Senior
Hometown: Greenville, N.C.
Hobbies/interests: Crochet, poetry, cycling, praise dance, and karaoke
Clubs and Organizations: ECU Honors College, EC Scholars, Tri Beta Biological Honor Society, Biology Primer, Pledge Purple, and eNC Innovates!
FAVORITES
Favorite hangout: Trail walks
Favorite place on campus: Main Campus Student Center
Favorite place to eat: Panda Panda
Favorite class: Population genetics
Professor who influenced you the most: Dr. Lynnsay Marsan
Favorite TV show: “Good Girls”
Favorite band/musician: Snoh Aalegra
Favorite movie: “Shrek”
MOTIVATIONS
Dream job: President of the United States
Role models: Bianca Murchison, Jessie Cotton and Ava DuVernay
What advice do you have for other students? Never limit yourself or your capabilities. You can do whatever you put your mind to.
Dymon Blango is no stranger to forging her own path and exploring ideas that piqued her curiosity.
The 21-year-old started her East Carolina University journey as an EC Scholar with two associate degrees from Pitt Community College. Now, she’s graduating a year early with dual degrees in biology and chemistry and a minor in forensic science.
A scholarship from the Honors College helped Dymon Blango decide to stay home in Greenville and attend ECU.
Growing up, she had dreams of attending law school. However, a visit from the Pitt County Schools Health Sciences Academy program coordinator in eighth grade encouraged her to consider a science-based career.
“When the catalogs for the book fair would come, there would be science kits that you could get, like making slime, or if we went to the store, I would pick out bug collecting kits that had a magnifying glass,” she said. “I was always interested in science.”
After more research, she discovered forensic science — the perfect blend of science and criminal justice — and she was hooked.
A Greenville native, Blango decided to stay home after being accepted to the Honors College and experiencing the community on campus. The network of people with whom she surrounded herself was key to pursuing her dreams.
“You never know where that network can take you, what person you’ll meet that will tell you about this opportunity,” she said. “Life is a like a spiderweb — meeting people and ending up in places that you never thought you’d be in.”
While at ECU, Blango explored a range of opportunities including a summer internship at Harvard University and a research laboratory internship at Wake Forest Baptist Health. However, the experience that united her interests was an internship with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
“I went to crime scenes and saw everything firsthand,” she said. “Everything that agent (Robert) Evans was teaching us in class, I was watching him do at his job. It sparked my interest even more in forensics and confirmed that this is something I can handle and something I really enjoy doing.”
After graduation, Blango will pursue her master’s in criminal justice online at ECU while working at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist as an autopsy assistant/brain bank technician.
While her career is science-focused, Blango makes time to explore her artistic side. Since she was young, she has written poetry. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she decided to create a podcast to not only share her poetry but also her advice.
“The podcast has really become an inspirational thing,” she said. “People have written to me telling me they’re inspired. I do want to get into public speaking at some point in my life so it’s a good start.”
Blango, right center, poses with her fellow graduates.