Before coming to college, I had not thought much about how different the experience would be beyond academics. I had not given much thought to the fact that I would be living away from home and small things that I took for granted would be up to me. Things like making sure I eat 3 meals a day, giving more consideration to my living space as it’s not just mine now, and pushing myself to go to classes regularly. The Scholars program has been very different from what I expected as well. At the beginning of my college career, I thought that Scholars would be on the forefront of most of my college experiences, especially coursework. However, my coursework is primarily focused on material for my major, and Scholars provides a break from that repetitiveness.
A few of the classes that I am taking this semester include Accounting, Marketing, and Computer Science. In these classes, we learn hard facts and processes that are relevant to becoming a competitive candidate for jobs in those respective industries. Although I acknowledge that this is very important to learn and integral to my future beyond college, it is easy to lose context about the world that we live in today. When you don’t have sight of this context and the scale of problems in the world today, simple assignments can seem much more daunting and stress-inducing than they should be. Lectures from Professor Holtz and Professor Merck have provided a reminder of the greater problems our society faces today and have helped me to look at assignments, projects, and exams from a different perspective that has allowed me to manage my expectations and stress more effectively.
There have been two main contributing factors of the Science and Global Change program that have influenced my major. The part of the Science and Global Change Scholars program that has had the biggest impact on choosing my major and the career I intend to pursue has been the people that I have met through this program. I entered the Scholars program as a business major and thought that I would not have a lot in common with the other people in SGC. However, after getting to know my classmates, I have realized that we do have a lot in common and that I do share an interest for Computer Science with many of my peers. It was in discussions with my SGC classmates that I decided to try out the introductory computer science program and now I intend to add a second major.
The second factor has been the format in which our lectures are presented to us. Often, Professor Holtz and Merck have reminded us that many of the issues that we face are on a global scale. These lectures have helped me to realign the scope of the college experience that I want to have and I changed my business major from Information Systems to International Business. I am very excited about this change as I will get to learn more about how cultural differences affect how business is conducted on a global scale. It will also give me insight as to the potential persuasive power that the U.S. has in a political, economic, and social sense.
Another thing that SGC helped me to realize is that I do not want to pursue research as my career. Over the past summer, I worked as a Guest Researcher at the Physical Measurement Laboratory at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology under the mentorship of Dr. Joseph Robertson. During my time here I employed the hypothetico-deductive method of science that we discussed in class to determine the best placement of gold-nanoparticles to evenly distribute heat across a nanopore in a cell membrane. I created a Python program to simulate this dispersion of heat and then using the scientific method, determined the exact number and placement of particles that would work best for our project. I then used this information to design a DNA-origami structure to anchor these gold-nanoparticles to a cell membrane. Although I do find my work very interesting, I am more interested in the potential impact that it can have once it is completed. It can be used as a tool to control temperature very precisely on a cellular level, allowing many different research projects to take place. One example could be testing the effectiveness of drug delivery systems across a cell membrane as a function of temperature. This was a very rewarding experience but I do plan to look at different work experiences in my future career.
After interacting with my fellow classmates and deciding to add the Computer Science major, I realized that I wanted to do the same elsewhere to learn more about my own interests. This pushed me to join a professional, co-ed business fraternity under the Smith School of Business: Pi Sigma Epsilon. At PSE I have learned a lot about the opportunities and resources that the Smith School provides its students.
I know that being a part of the scholars program will affect how I approach the rest of my undergraduate experience and career after that. I know that when I go out of my comfort zone to meet more people with some shared interests but different experiences, I learn more about myself.
College thus far has been full of different surprises and trying to navigate living on a large campus during a pandemic along with academics and social pressures has been a challenge. Although, so far, college has been far from what I expected in high school, it has definitely been a lot of fun. I have also thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the College Park Scholars program and I am looking forward to new experiences in the future.