Now that I am closing out my sophomore year of college, it is hitting me that I am halfway through getting my degree.  I am only one year from applying to medical schools, and choosing my path for the next four years after my undergraduate career.  This year has been transformational for me in one main way.  I am more and more confident that I have chosen the right path, and look even more forward to pursuing medicine.

I took my first Biochemistry course in Spring 2017, and it reinforced my decision to be a Biochemistry major.  Not only am I doing well in the class, but I find the material extremely interesting and I look forward to studying it more, instead of dreading the next two years.  The next course, which covers metabolism, will hopefully also be relevant to my research and give me some new ideas and allow me to connect with our research more than I have been able to thus far.

This brings me to reflect on one of the GOALS of Honors, Original Inquiry.  I have been a part of the Stanford Lab in the Physiology and Cell Biology Department, and Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute since January of 2016.  I have gained valuable exposure to research through working under Dr. Kristin Stanford, and am now working on an undergraduate thesis project.  We are looking particularly at how exercise in mother’s affects the metabolic health of their offspring, and determining the mechanism of this effect.  I am going to be staying in Columbus over the summer of 2017 to do as much work on this project as I can.  This experience has been a large part of my college experience so far, and will continue to be as I plan on pursuing my research until graduation.

A thesis project is one of my aspects of Academic Enrichment as well.  It is tied into my hopes of going to medical school, for which research experience is a positive to have on your CV.  Working on this project is giving me a chance to learn more about the real world, as well as explore what research would be like as a career alternative to medicine.  Beyond this experience I am building a curriculum that is geared towards medical school while pursuing my own interests.  I am deeply interested in proteins and their importance for basically every bodily function, which has resulted in my choice of major, Biochemistry.  The first course has given me a glimpse of this and the complexity of our bodies, making me only more hungry to learn more.  I am also completing a minor in Classical Humanities, as I have always been fascinated by Greek and Roman mythology and how these ancient cultures still have influence on our world today.  Along with this, my courses have taken me in several directions to broaden my experiences, as I am going to be taking a second sociology course, will have experience in molecular genetics, microbiology and HIV, dinosaurs, epidemiology, and german films from the holocaust.  My planned curriculum takes me well beyond the required hours of upper level course work, while being in subject areas that are personally engaging for me, and putting me in good position to continue on to medical school after graduation.

These varying courses contribute to my Global Awareness as well.  My courses in sociology, anthropology, epidemiology, HIV, and classics are opening my eyes to different perspectives from around the world.  Ideas, perspectives, and local issues from Africa, the Mediterranean, South America, and more are all becoming a part of my own cultural log book.  In addition to this, I am still not giving up on the chance to do research, an internship, or study abroad in Denmark, to increase my understanding of European life, delve deeper into my own family’s background, and search for ways that Europe and the United States may work together to help the rest of the world, especially in health care.  My biggest hope is to get an internship with Novo Nordisk in Copenhagen to experience the pharmaceutical industry, not just for my own career interests, but also to get a feel for the global distribution of pharmaceuticals, the business side of it, and how we can improve access to life-saving drugs.

My Leadership Development experiences have been mainly two things, I served as vice captain of our club tennis team for one semester, and was recently elected to serve as Treasurer for the club for the next academic year.  These experiences have been important for me not only to gain leadership experience, but to have an opportunity to try to improve our club tennis experience and club in general.  As Vice Captain I was able to help run practices and make sure our tournaments ran smoothly, and as Treasurer I hope to be able to steer the club in the right direction in terms of our finances to make sure we can continue to do all of the things that have made my club tennis experience so far one of my favorite parts of college.  I am also the President and Founder of a club on campus called Odysseys of Change.  This experience has given me the chance to really see what it is like to lead a team, and has been a great learning process.  I have had to navigate the universities policies, as well as recruit other members and get a club started from scratch, gather resources, and make connections.  While we are still in the infancy stage, it has been a great experience, and hopefully by the time I graduate I will be leaving a club that can be sustained by some great successors, with programs in place that I can be proud of.

Odysseys of Change will also play a big role in my Service Engagement.  We hope to function as an organization that uses Classics/Mythology and the Arts for social activism and service.  I was inspired to found the organization by a group called the Medea Project, founded and run by Rhodessa Jones in San Diego.  With the help of one of my Classics professors, Dr. Tom Hawkins, who is now the advisor for the organization, I have been able to gain some connections and a vision for what we can do.  My hopes are that we can establish a theater group with the Columbus HIV community, do work with the Nisonger center for children with Autism in the Wexner Medical Center, and use mythology as a way to get kids interested in reading in Columbus schools.  In addition to this organization, I have been active volunteering for political organizations, especially for the Hillary Clinton campaign in the election season of 2016.  Over this summer, I hope to get a volunteer position in one of the free clinics in Columbus.  I will also be looking into volunteer positions at Riverside Hospital.

This year has been a great year for my academic development as well as for my confidence in my career choice.  In conclusion, I am confident I am on the right path to achieve my goal of medical school, as well as graduate as a successful, engaged member of the Honors community with experience in all of the GOALS areas, with honors research distinction.