Month: April 2019

A Year in Review

May 13, 2018, I graduated valedictorian from my high school with a 4.0 GPA, multiple college credit hours under my belt, and a plan to go to The Ohio State University in the fall to study science. Although I didn’t know exactly what to expect from a freshman year in college, I knew that I could never compare it to the past four years of high school that I had just experienced.

I knew I had to approach college with a different method than I approached high school. I needed to expect the classes to be harder and the semesters to go by faster. I had to prepare myself to fail at things, succeed in others, but overall show improvement throughout my years here. By the end of my first year, although I allowed myself to not have perfect grades, I wanted to make sure that biochemistry was the major I wanted to continue with. I’m not going to lie, even though I did try my best, my first B on a college exam didn’t exactly feel great. I was congratulated by my family for getting an above average grade in a major known for being tough at OSU, facing the grade didn’t feel as great as they made it seem. That was my first adjustment. Learning a new normal and learning to continue to persist after every exam. Adapting took a while, but eventually I started to focus on improvement and making sure I at least understood the material well even if I didn’t test as well as I’d hoped. I went to office hours, I studied in groups, and I got involved. My first semester had ended, and I had seemed to get the hang of campus life.

Another aspect of college that I needed to go well was making new friends. Although, two of my good friends had committed to OSU as well, I knew I didn’t want the safety of old friendships to keep me from making new ones. From hearing about my sisters experience, I knew a lot of friendships were made during classes, so trying to ignore my inner thoughts to pick a seat in the back of the room of each class, I decided to sit up front or near anyone that looked as scared as I was. Although this plan had good intentions, it didn’t account for the fact that making new friends consisted of more than just sitting next to someone new, it needed flowing conversation and common interests. After the first week had passed, and I felt semi-confident of some of the friendships that I had established (if anything, I at least had someone to sit next to in each class), I decided to put less pressure on making new friends. Luckily, it seemed that paying less attention is what I needed to do to stumble upon a girl in the Chemistry Department office trying to drop her Spanish course while I was trying to drop my French course. After talking to each other briefly, we learned the next Friday that we had recitation together. A few weeks went by and eventually a brief chat in the department of Chemistry turned into roommates for next fall.

The last hurtle of college that I had hoped to complete before the end of my freshman year was my future career. Although I had chosen to major in biochemistry, I also knew that I was interested in other subjects. Through different clubs on campus, and the STEM scholar’s program I was able to explore more about a career in a science field, but through my extra classes like psychology, I learned that I was interested in more than one field. In order to figure out what interests me, I hope to gain a research position, possibly start a minor in psychology, and continue to explore new courses to take. I didn’t have enough time to confirm a future career this year, but I know I still have time to figure it out.

 

Current Event

First Successful Full 3D-Printed Heart

According to CNN news, earlier this week, Professor Tal Dvir from Tel Aviv University released the news that the first 3D-printed heart was successfully engineered. The heart is complete with blood vessels, and cells printed by “ink” from the patient in order to prevent organ rejection. Currently the heart is the size of about a rabbit’s heart, and it doesn’t perform the functions of a heart just yet. Once the hearts develop the pumping ability, they plan to start organ transplants in animals and eventually work their way up to providing a solution to the world’s main cause of death.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/15/health/3d-printed-heart-study/index.html

I can remember  waiting for this day ever since I heard about 3D-printing. First, my sister would come home from college and tell me about the 3D-printer that she’s allowed to use in college, and I can remember how amazed I was when she brought something home to show me. Next, I realized the possibilities of 3D-printers spanning wider than just plastic mechanisms when I chose to focus a presentation on it for my high school communications class. Finally, the possibilities of organ transplant with organs printed directly from the patient’s cells, lowering the risk of organ rejection is revolutionary. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and the chance of waiting on the donor list for a heart is so slim. Even though the heart is only the size of a rabbit’s, and there’s still a long way to go, this news shows promise for the future of medicine. Of course, their first limitation right now is the fact that the heart doesn’t pump. Then, once they get past that obstacle, I can only assume their next limitation would be deciding what to do about beginning to distribute hearts for transplant. A successfully printed human heart would change the lives of so many, but only if they can afford it. Although we don’t know how much hospitals would be willing to charge for 3D-printed organs, there’s a possibility that it would be a steep price. Although I don’t know the deciding factor of medical treatment costs, these procedures would be in high demand. The transplant list is long but imagine the impact that it would have on those who didn’t have great chances of finding a perfect match. This development is paving the way for so many future directions. Overall, it’s amazing to see how developed the printers have become and to only imagine what great advancements they will bring to the future.

Artifact 3- Broadway Nights

Through two semesters of my first year on campus, I’ve learned more about myself and the type of environment I work best in. My weeks were dedicated to my classes and the weekends were dedicated to homework. From the beginning of the year, I found that a constant dedication to schoolwork had a negative effect on my focus and dedication towards school. I realized that I couldn’t continue working without throwing in some breaks in-between. Luckily for me, I enrolled in a college located near the heart of the biggest city in Ohio. Whether it was finding a coffee shop in the short north, or going to Gateway to watch movies for $5, I realized I couldn’t live here for the next four years without exploring a little.
Although my theatre obsession is new, the past two years of studying had been accompanied by playlists of Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Heathers and more playing in the background. Ever since joining drama club for my high school’s spring musical, I had been trying to see my first Broadway show. I started expanding my knowledge of theater, and started listening to new soundtracks just as a way to take a break from studying. It started to become a quality of mine that I would share with others when asked questions about my favorite music or how I spend my time. During my first semester at OSU, while meeting new people, I started learning more about how theater had an impact on others lives as well.
The day finally arrived when I was scrolling through social media and came across a post by OSU’s Residence Hall Council. They were giving away tickets to see Aladdin at the Ohio Theatre down on High Street. It was official, I saw my first Broadway show on November 4th and I was amazed at the experience of watching a live performance. Although I’d never listened to the Aladdin, the score, actors, and amount of glitter on those costumes couldn’t compare to anything I’d seen before.


I started paying attention to all the musicals and shows visiting the Ohio Theatre for any chance that another program on campus was giving away tickets. At the end of the semester I learned about Hamilton’s visit to Columbus throughout the month of February. Although my week long wait for the D-Tix lottery didn’t end up working out, I received an email offering extra tickets to see the show for anyone interested. After calling my mom with the good news (both of us thankful that we could stop looking for tickets) I sat down and realized what a big deal this was for me. Not only had I been searching for tickets since Hamilton performed on the 2016 Tony awards, but I had been failing multiple times at finding tickets.


When February 13th came along, I sat through three hours of a history-inspired, rap-influenced musical surrounded by a crowd of people mouthing the words and reacting to an appearance of their favorite character. Not only was I watching another Broadway show, but I was finally experiencing in person what I had been fangirling over while studying. Columbus had immersed me in the possibilities of living in a city. This past semester has been filled with trips downtown to grab coffee, to seeing Harry Potter accompanied by the Columbus Orchestra, to taking a trip around town with my friends to celebrate my birthday. I’ve grown to love living in a big city, and I appreciate the ability to escape campus and take a COTA bus downtown to explore “a whole new world”.