I began as an Honors student a tad ambitious, I wanted to take part in a bunch of clubs, internships, and volunteer opportunities but I quickly realized there is only so many hours a day. Thankfully the honors college has so many opportunities and experiences to look into, which allowed me to focus my attention on things that aligned with my passions and goals. 

When I was looking for volunteer opportunities I spent a lot of my time helping the science department which helped me connect with a lot of like minded peers and faculty, I worked closely with Ms. Nguyen as a recitation leader and I volunteered to help with exam prep and proctoring. This experience is not necessarily related to the honors college, but I don’t think I would have gotten so connected to her if I wasn’t looking for community involvement. 

Additionally, my time working with Dr. Manicke was used for honors credit and during that time I learned a lot about problem solving and time management. Overall the Honors College has provided me so many opportunities I may not have explored if it wasn’t for the program.  

My ePortfolio highlights how I have grown as a person from 2022 to 2026, and it highlights how I have grown as a science professional. Showcase artifacts 2 and 3 specifically show skills I have learned in laboratory settings. I have accomplished a lot of research and experiments that have given me skills such as, time management, problem solving, instrumentation (GCMS, FTIR, MSP, UV spectroscopy, microscopy), lab report writing, spectra and chromatograph analysis, and communication skills. Without these opportunities and experiences I’ve gained through the honors college I may not have as strong of a skill set. I’ve been able to closely work alongside other forensic scientists and faculty to learn about what my future could look like. 

Heres images of various 'evidence' I have analyzed over the years.

A goal the honors college has that I really focused on was strong communication and problem solving. Coming into college I was a pretty independent person, but I was very quiet and preferred to figure things out myself. Through the honors college I completed a lot of projects that required me to convey my accomplishments to other people. One project I didn’t discuss in this portfolio was a contract I did for writing in the sciences. For this project I presented to my class how to properly cite and make citations in scientific writing. This project helped me learn how to present and teach to multiple people and accommodate different learning preferences. 

Additionally, I spent a lot of my time as an honors student participating in the engaged learning experiences such as research and service. I loved volunteering because it taught me the importance of community and giving back. Conducting a bunch of research whether it was a literary review or a hands-on laboratory I learned about the importance of communicating your research to others and the purpose of the research to further my knowledge and others.