My second year undoubtedly came with many, many challenges. The courses I took were more rigorous, my time commitments piled, my stress levels increased, and on top of it all, I was living through a global pandemic. The particularly difficult courses I was taking include Organic Chemistry lectures and labs, Human Physiology, Molecular Genetics, and Integrated Biology. The first semester of my second year, I had was still managing everything surprisingly well. I was staying on top of my work and was able to balance all my responsibility. But unfortunately, this came at the cost of my mental health. I was experiencing high levels of stress constantly and it caused many physical effects on my body. Luckily, I got help and have returned to a better state. The second semester of my second year has been difficult in its own way. I feel as though I began to burn out from online school. Staying motivated is much easier when I am in person and having constant interactions with classmates and faculty. I began to struggle to stay on top of my responsibilities which had increased since my first semester. But luckily, with the help of my colleagues, I was able to pull myself together to finish the semester strong.
Although I had to overcome challenges, I also had many positive experiences in my second year. For one, I was extremely proud of my success in Organic Chemistry I. Being a super difficult course. My hours and hours of studying truly paid off. In addition to this, I was re-selected as the Future Opportunites Chair for Biological Sciences Scholars in January. I even got a position as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant for Dr. Bronson in EEOB 2520. I was able to remain on the Dean’s List consecutively for the first three semesters of college as well. As a part of the STEP program, I paired up with Dr. Rakotondraibe at the College of Pharmacy to pursue my research project in the coming Autumn Semester. This past week, I got a position in Patient Transport at Riverside and will be working full time this coming summer. I am very excited about the upcoming experiences and I am hopeful that things will start t go back to normal.