Author Archives: bes89

Planning for Change

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I was discussing my plans for the Summer with my friend the other day, and he reminded me that it was just about time to start looking into internship opportunities. With the current limitations due to covid, finding an internship has proven to be even more difficult than I had originally thought. I have to find letters of recommendation, take the appropriate courses, and maybe even move across the country to get the hands on experience that I need. I am planning on compiling a list over the next few weeks, but I will definitely keep the information provided by the panelists in mind. I will check out handshake and the other networking websites to find people that might be able to provide me with a little bit of advice.

Additionally, I originally thought there would be only one type of internship I could apply for. However, it seems that it could actually be beneficial to use the first few internships to gain skills, rather than stress about applying for the job I ultimately want at the end. This could also help me find internships by broadening my search of key words when I’m finding opportunities to find something that will be good for me in the long term. Also, it is important to experience different types of internships to make sure that I’m interested in the actual applied science, rather than the idea of the science I want to pursue. At this point, I think I know what I want to pursue but having a wide range of possibilities and allowing for the possibility that my interests will change is important. I’m still stressed about letters of recommendations and matching all the requirements, but at least now I have a plan of how to approach determining my break plans.

Planning: For Better or Worse

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Hearing the stories of Dr. Julia Felippe and Dr. Andre Kessler was incredibly inspiring. Neither of them planned to end up at Cornell, or even in the United States; in fact, there was a time in which Dr. Kessler never thought leaving East Germany was possible. Their account of how they pursued a passion, wherever it took them, to end up doing what they love really resonated with me. I know what my passion is, but I have no idea where I want to end up with it. Following their advice and simply taking opportunities that allow me to experience what I love is guaranteed to be enlightening and could even redirect my future career entirely. However, one of the things that Dr. Kessler said about planning really stuck with me. He said that his plan to study biology was what kept him from joining the military, but that his goals changed throughout his life based on his work. He also mentioned that what he learned outside of college was perhaps more beneficial to determining where he ultimately ended up. I realized that I was placing so much pressure on myself to take certain courses to prepare myself for a specific future, however I am not certain I want that future. I will be more open to taking internships and experiencing different fields related to my interests in the future so that I can be sure to find the one that I enjoy the most, whatever it may be. It is important to have a general plan, but I should not be restricting myself.

Learning to Love Learning

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The seminar on Thursday reminded me of the importance of engaging in challenging and enjoyable education at the perfect time. When I was young, I loved school and would have stayed in the classroom all day if I could. As I got older, I became overwhelmed with busy work and lost an interest in pushing myself, making it through the grueling work of high school with some apprehension. Senior year of high school was a turning point, and I was able to enter college with a drive to succeed. I tailored my schedule with the promise that I would give myself one class every semester that was a fun, non-major related course which was not incredibly difficult. This course would be a way for me to expand my learning beyond my major and gain different perspectives.

Listening to the reminder that learning should be both goal oriented and enjoyable, I realized how much I was dreading studying for the next week of prelims and quizzes. Of course, I have never found tests fun, but I do remember a time where I would actually look forward to study groups with my friends where we would explore the material beyond what is required to fully understand it. This was an important reminder, and I know it will help me get through the next week.

Wonders of Nature

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This was my first time going to the gorges since I’ve been here, and I really wish I had gone sooner. It was beautiful to see in the fall, but I definitely want to go again in the spring or summer. I thought it was really interesting to learn about the history of the waterfalls and the rock formations. Seeing how water, ice, and other geographical features have shaped the gorges and changed the vegetation, even over the last century, was really cool. Additionally, I was able to see a few really cool fossils in some of the rocks, which made the trails seem even more beautiful as a preservation of what happened millions of years ago.

ASL: An Independent Language

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I wish I had more opportunities to learn sign language when I was younger, perhaps even as a language in my middle and high school. It really is its own language, and not just an adaptation of English. In fact, ASL is more closely related to French sign language than it is to British sign language! It has a completely different linguistic history and evolution. Learning a little more about sign language also made me think about how the symbols that I associated with sign language are just that; they communicate a thought. English as a whole is the same way, with sounds or images (words) as symbols that represent thoughts, however I’ve been speaking language for so long that I don’t really think about it that way.

I learned the alphabet years ago to talk with my friends during silent fire drills, but spelling out each word always seemed slow and clumsy. I was excited to be able to participate in this presentation, hoping to learn a few words in sign language, but in fact I was able to learn so much more than I thought possible in such a short time. We learned how to introduce ourselves, ask basic questions, and answer questions about our major. I found it really interesting to see how words built on each other, similar to how English has compound words, or shared characteristics, such as directionality or shape, rather than needing an individual sign for each word. Learning about that allowed me to make the connection between ASL and languages in general.

I think everyone should know a few basic words and numbers in ASL, since not only would it be nice to communicate with people who are hard of hearing or deaf, but it might also be important in an emergency or medical situation. Lastly I was surprised by how large of a role expressions play in sign language. For example, if you don’t furrow your eyebrows while asking some questions, then it isn’t a proper question. Expressions are important for English, but pitch and tone are more important. I guess facial expressions are the equivalent.

Beyond the Courtroom

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Criminal justice. Although I have been working towards studying forensic science for a few years, I now find myself taking an extra pause before answering those two words when someone asks what I want to do. Despite forensics being a relatively less significant current issue with the system, I worry it will be immediately associated with the injustice that characterizes the system and feel the need to justify and explain why I chose the field since it is often misinterpreted. However, listening to the panel talk about the key points of the entire legal path, from initial investigation to conviction to reintegration into society, made me realize how misinformed I actually was about the entire process. I had a rough idea the difference between an arrest record and a conviction record, but I did not know how permanent arrest records were or the cost associated with expunging the record. I assumed there would not be a charge if the person was never convicted, but that is not the case. Additionally, the permanence and disproportionate burden of an arrest record that costs to be removed has long term effects for young offenders, specifically those of low socioeconomic status, who might otherwise have aged out of the system and left their childhood brushes with the law behind them. Since records are so readily available, it makes it even harder to find work with a minor record and increases the recidivism rate. Attending the talk did not dissuade me from pursuing forensics, however it certainly made me more aware of the consequences that my actions, both in the initial stages of an investigation and in the courtroom, could have on an individual. I believe it is important to be informed of the long term effects such as these, and I hope I can manage to use science to help find justice without spreading injustice as a result.

Spreadsheets, Sticky Notes, and Grad School

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I counted yesterday; I got over 35 emails about school events, opportunities, clubs, canvas updates, and training notifications. I deleted most of them, as I usually do, hoping that I would not miss an essential email, a deadline, or a useful event. In the past, any email with grad school in the title would be immediately deleted, since I try to minimize my stressing about applications. I know once I start the search, it will be never ending until I finalize my plans. My friends can always tell when I am stressed about something going on because my workspace will be surrounded by sticky notes, to-do lists, and reminders. While applying to undergraduate admissions two years ago, I had to document and organize everything: school statistics, distance from home, and deadlines. Although I am incredibly happy at Cornell and have no regrets choosing to come to Ithaca, except perhaps the weather, I only considered the campus environment and student life at the very end of my selection process. In hindsight, I was lucky. Attending the seminar by Zachary Grobe on applying to graduate schools really encouraged me to rethink my approach to further academia. While he suggested that the first step include some sort of list, the criteria were drastically different than I had originally thought of. Not only that, but he also noted that there were some benefits that grad students received from schools which I had never heard of. I’m really glad I listened to the seminar, since I now know that I will probably be happier if I forgo the rigid, logical structure of data planning at a slightly earlier stage and focus on the potential opportunities with professors and my personal comfort with the university. I have been set on a career for a few years now, and a good experience in my first few years in a lab are crucial to my happiness in the future. I also learned a lot about the statements that I will probably have to write-the key points of which will be stored away in a highly organized grad school folder. I had no idea the process was so different and so complex, and I would have made so many unnecessary mistakes. Although I should not be worrying about grad schools this year, attending this seminar drastically reduced any residual concern I have now and I know it will help me in the future to look back at what I learned today.

Outside the Lines

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I transferred to my middle school in seventh grade and was immediately faced with the problem of finding my place in one of the established friend circles. I thought I was lucky to find a group within a few weeks and often wondered what life would have been like had I been randomly assigned a different teacher for history class. In hindsight, however, it was not luck that landed me with my friends; rather, the inevitable pull of our backgrounds and our academic goals gave us little other choice. My previous friend groups had been mixed race, and so the stratification between the urban and suburban students and the white students and non-white students was clear to me. There were times when I wished I could make friends from different backgrounds, but stepping outside the lines and illustrating my own interpretation of friendship was never easy. However, I never thought much about why this system existed until the end of high school and the beginning of college, when the lines between friend groups on the basis of their race or neighborhood began to fade, and I never felt comfortable discussing the issue because I did not believe I could consider enough perspectives to fully understand it. The constructive discussions that I had with my peers this week were extremely liberating and enlightening, significantly different from the fearful tension I saw before. I was very impressed by the willingness of everyone to listen to the stories and opinions of others and understand that everyone came to the discussion with different levels of personal experience and therefore a different perspective. It saddened me to learn that my experience of subtle segregation in middle school was not an isolated or singular occurrence. I really appreciated the chance to discuss the topic of whiteness with a few of my peers, since now that the issue has become controversial it is even more important to recognize its continued existence and monumental impact.