Over the past two months I was assigned a project to interview people around campus. Upon hearing the requirements for this project I was off put. I didn’t know who I was going to interview and how I was going to find people that wanted to talk to a freshman not interested in research or graduate school. I was nervous to even start looking for people to interview. In retrospect there was no reason to be nervous all the people I interviewed were kind and willing to help me out.

This project helped me get out of my comfort zone but not too far. It also helped me realize that people are just like me. They aren’t the big scary people that I imagined them to be. No ones answers surprised me because they were all closely related to what they did in the classroom. I also had talked to the people before in class and in passing before interviewing so I knew some of the answers already before even interviewing them. Overall I’m glad I was assigned this project because if  I ever change my mind about research I will be less intimated to reach out to people to do research with them.

For the past few weeks I have been volunteering with kids aged kindergarten through second grade. I have been involved with the WOW Program which introduces inner city kids to different kids of science. In the picture I am helping children build a clay boat with the goal of holding the most marbles without capsizing their boat. The kids really enjoyed the experience and the knowledge they gained was priceless. I believe it’s important to help kids discover their love for science at a young age because they are the leaders of tomorrow. So if I can take an hour out of my Tuesday mornings to inspire kids I will gladly do it in a drop of a hat.