About Me

My Degree Path

I am entering my Sophomore year and am on track to graduate in May 2025 with a double major in Forensic Science and Chemistry with a minor in Biology. This degree path is perfect for me since combines my two passions, science and helping others. I want to be able to use my passion of chemistry to develop new methods to improve the lives of others and protect those who have been hurt, prevent further injuries and improve overall life of patients.

Teamwork

My strengths as a team member are communication, time management and leadership

Communication:

I have worked many customer service jobs that have required me to work with many different personalities and grow my ability to share ideas effectively.
By having such a strong background in communication I am able to work well in a group setting and explain my thoughts while also indicating where I think improvement can be added.

Time Management:

My many years of sports and working while being a full time student has strengthened my time management skills which is an important skill for a team to have.
Being able to make an effective timeline to complete a project before the due date and fix any problems that arise in a timely manner allows for everyone in the team to be successful.

Leadership:

Being a Teachers Assistant has allowed me to become a better leader for students who look to me for advice.
This has allowed me to become better at answering questions and pushing students to their best potential.

Other Skills:

Being an undergraduate volunteer in a research lab, has improved my teamwork skills with professionals who know more than I do about the subject at hand.
I learned how to take advice and learn from others. I have become great at following directions and asking better questions to get as much out of the experience as possible.

After this internship I became a more reliable team member. I showed I was able to take on projects and get the job done in a timely manner. As time passed I began to grow my skills mentioned above and become more confident in my abilities. This allowed me to become more independent and gain more responsibilities within the labs.

My Experiences and Skills

Research

Dr. Sebastian Lahules organic chemistry synthesis lab is part of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis. In this lab I was working on a project over synthesizing new compounds to substitute problematic molecules. Many chemical compounds are very important in pharmaceutical and agriculture products but they can be expensive to make or be harmful to the enviornment. With my team, we ran many different reactions using safer and cheaper resources to see if there was a better replacement for these molecules

Through this work I learned more about chemical synthesis and using machines like a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance(NMR) and separation techniques with Gas Chromatography. I also gain became better at time management, communications with supervisors and organization of experiments and notes.

All of these new skills will let me work more efferently and independently within the labs at my internship and/or my future career.

Chemistry Teachers Assistant

PLTL means Peer Lead Team Learning and it is a group of ten or more students working on application problems in chemistry. As a leader, I am responsible for facilitating the class and providing guidance on how to answer difficult questions.

This experience has allowed me to grow my communication and public speaking skills, develop stronger leadership qualities and become a better teammate and supervisor overall. Teamwork is extremly vital within any professional setting and will benefit me in future careers!

Current and Past Jobs

I am currently working as a part-time waitress. This job, as well as my past job as a sales representative at Quickpass Carwash, has allowed me to grow my customer service skills and patients. In order to be successful in customer service you need good organizational, communication and listening skills, which I have been able to gain and grow through this experience. I am also able to adapt in a fast pace enviornment so me and my place of employment can continue to be successful. Finally, since I often handled money transactions and training of new hires, I am very financially responsible and grew my leadership and teamwork skills to a higher degree. All of these tasks are very vital in any field of work and will allow me to be a more well rounded employee.

Volunteering and Organizations:

I am very passionate about giving back and helping others and have applied this interest to my different aspects of my life

Mission Trips

Through my church I have gone on many different mission trips to help rebuild communities after they have been effected by a natural disaster or have been through economically hard times.
I have also been able to travel to Costa Rica with my Spanish class to, not only improve my fluidity in the language, but impact the community and work in different places like an animal shelter and restaurants.
Both experiences allowed me to gain personal interactions with members of the community and help people, no matter their situation, see that there is still hope and goodness in the world.

Alpha Chi Omega

The philanthropy we support is Domestic Violence Awareness and Education
We hold many informational meetings for the students and faculty on campus and host many fun and engaging activites
We spend a lot of time fundraising and volunteering at the Coburn Place, a local women's shelter downtown

Strengths

I have become very comfortable as a leader and role model

This has been helping me in my internship by allowing me to take initiative in the lab and work on more projects independently.

I have great communication and listening skills through my past jobs in costumer service.

These skills are very crucial in my internship since I often work in groups and need to ask questions about when and how to preform certain tasks.

Weakness

One area where I have room for improvement is public speaking.

I have always been uncomfortable speaking in front of a crowd for presentations, but I have been working on getting better at this skill by taking a public speaking class last year, as well as continuing to practice this skill within my sorority.