Freshman Year: Novelty and Excitement
One of my first assignments in college was to come up with a tentative four-year plan. I took it much too seriously. A lot of people change their course plan during college, but mine did not shift one bit. I literally took every class I said I would. Was this good for me or bad for me in the long run? I can argue for both sides. But I have no regrets.
One of my first assignments in college was to come up with a tentative four-year plan. I took it much too seriously. A lot of people change their course plan during college, but mine did not shift one bit. I literally took every class I said I would. Was this good for me or bad for me in the long run? I can argue for both sides. But I have no regrets.
My first courses in the Honors Program were in the Honors General Chemistry series. My upperclassmen mentors looked at me like I was crazy when I told them I registered for CHEM 145. They were right. Everyone in that class had to be a little bit crazy if they knew what they were signing themselves up for. But it's one of the only series that challenged me to grow during my freshman year. Rather than mindlessly following lab protocols, we often had to experiment and make up our own procedure! Even though I don't remember the principles of this electrochemistry lab any more, I still remember how hard I had to think through it. This is where my mind as a scientist first began to shine.
Sophomore Year: Ignorance and Overconfidence
Biology and organic chemistry lie at the crux of relevant medical science, right?These were the classes that mattered. I had to do well. I had to do really well.
I was warned about organic chemistry. They warned me that it might be the hardest class I take in college. They warned me I would be clutching my textbook every hour of every day. They warned me that this might be why I decide not to go into medicine.
My experience was different, but I'm not sure why. Organic chemistry became my love. It was the most satisfying puzzle to solve. And yes, I did clutch my textbook everywhere I walked, but it was to stop and do organic chemistry problems for fun.
This is one of several exams in the series on which I received full points. It certainly wasn't easy, but I learned not to let others' experiences influence me, let alone scare me.
Sophomore year was not just sunshine and rainbows. This year, I learned how to work in a team. In HONORS 396, the supplementary seminar to the biology series, my group wrote a research paper on autism spectrum disorder. It was the first time I read scientific literature with serious focus. This is a figure we appropriated from a paper and also added additional data to. I was confused at least ninety-nine percent of the time we worked on this project. I learned that in science, it is alright to not always know what you are doing. I certainly cannot explain this figure very effectively. It let me know that the world of scientific research is vast and fascinating, and as humans we will probably never know everything.
Junior Year: Focus and Intensification
My classes shrunk from seven hundred to no more than two hundred (still a bit large, but we're getting there). Frankly, none of the Honors classes at the time interested me, so I thought I would try my hand at doing an Ad Hoc project. I took ANTH 420, The Social Life of Psychiatry, thinking it would be a great intersection of medicine and humanities. What I realized I wanted from the class, however, was to study the clash between medicine and humanities. It did not quite offer that, so I tailored my Ad Hoc project to pursue that interest. When I told my professor I would write a paper, she threw my idea out the window on account of it being "boring." Instead, she had me do a presentation. "Sure," I said. "How long should it be?" My professor replied, "Two hours sounds good." I was both taken aback and confused, because our class was only fifty minutes. It turns out she wanted me to give a full lecture to one of her other classes! I immediately became nervous at the thought of standing in front of just twenty people and leading a lecture and discussion for two hours. Most of all, I worried that I would run out of things to say. But it was just the opposite. My experience giving this lecture reminded me why the University of Washington is so wonderful. Every student in the class was engaged and offered their own knowledge and experiences in the discussion, and the class period went in a direction I did not anticipate. They even wanted me to come back for the next class period! This Ad Hoc project was one of my most fulfilling classroom experiences, because I learned about myself as a scientist, an anthropologist, and a teacher.
My classes shrunk from seven hundred to no more than two hundred (still a bit large, but we're getting there). Frankly, none of the Honors classes at the time interested me, so I thought I would try my hand at doing an Ad Hoc project. I took ANTH 420, The Social Life of Psychiatry, thinking it would be a great intersection of medicine and humanities. What I realized I wanted from the class, however, was to study the clash between medicine and humanities. It did not quite offer that, so I tailored my Ad Hoc project to pursue that interest. When I told my professor I would write a paper, she threw my idea out the window on account of it being "boring." Instead, she had me do a presentation. "Sure," I said. "How long should it be?" My professor replied, "Two hours sounds good." I was both taken aback and confused, because our class was only fifty minutes. It turns out she wanted me to give a full lecture to one of her other classes! I immediately became nervous at the thought of standing in front of just twenty people and leading a lecture and discussion for two hours. Most of all, I worried that I would run out of things to say. But it was just the opposite. My experience giving this lecture reminded me why the University of Washington is so wonderful. Every student in the class was engaged and offered their own knowledge and experiences in the discussion, and the class period went in a direction I did not anticipate. They even wanted me to come back for the next class period! This Ad Hoc project was one of my most fulfilling classroom experiences, because I learned about myself as a scientist, an anthropologist, and a teacher.
I am half-deaf in my left ear. In the laboratory section of NBIO 302 Introduction to Systems Neurobiology, we took a listening test. It is the same test that all public school children in the State of Washington take every year to check for hearing deficits. I always knew I had one. But this was my chance to characterize it like a scientist! Without getting too complicated, I found that a sound that is slightly louder in my right ear than in my left ear actually sounds the same in both ears to me. However, I do not have trouble localizing sounds, suggesting my auditory system is somehow compensating for this deficit. I wish we could have opened up my brain to find out exactly how I was compensating, but we did not have the necessary tools to conduct this experiment.
Senior Year: Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!
I know what I am doing, and I also have no clue what I am doing.
I know what I am doing, and I also have no clue what I am doing.