First Year Experience
Pre Semester Goals
As I begin my college experience, I have a few goals in mind to achieve by graduation. As a student, I would like to expand on my studying skills, as well as collaboration skills in group projects, especially those in lab or one of my science courses. As a person, I would like to meet new people and cultivate lasting friendships. As a professional, I know I want to enter into the biology research field, but with my time here, I aim to pinpoint a branch of biology that I am passionate about to focus my future research in.
One specific goal as a student is to maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher throughout all four years. One personal goal is to join at least two organizations or clubs on campus to get more involved, those being the Women4Change organization and joining an intramural soccer team. A career goal of mine is to get involved with the Freshman Lab Apprenticeship program to become exposed to what lab life is like.
This is a photo of me and the graduate students in Dr. Balakrishnan's biochemistry lab.
Above is a photo of the intramural soccer team that I organized and captained in the Fall.
Post Semester Reflection
I am proud to be able to say I accomplished most of my goals outlined in my Pre Semester Goals writing. I was fortunate to join Dr. Lata Balakrishnan's biochemistry research lab as a Freshman worker. This opportunity has shown me what life in a lab can be like after getting an undergraduate degree and it only made me more excited for my future! I look forward to working with Dr. Balakrishnan and her graduate students for semesters to come. I was also able to organize and captain an intramural soccer team. By doing this, I met so many new people and made incredible, lasting friendships. I have yet to narrow down what type of biology focus I want to pursue, but I have so much time to figure that out. I love what I do with Dr. Balakrishnan, so maybe I will go down a biochemistry path.
This semester has taught me a lot about myself as a person and as a student. One strength that I am realizing in myself is my ability to take on a leadership role. In group projects, such as for my Honors Bio Lab poster project, I was able to organize and delegate group member tasks and communicate with our professor, Dr. Marrs. One of my weaknesses, however, is procrastination. I always get my assignments done on time but to make it easier for myself in the future, I would like to work on my time management skills and organizing when I will get things completed.
One major lesson I was able to learn from my first semester at IUPUI is that putting myself out there can make all the difference in my college experience. In high school, I mostly kept to myself but living in a dorm allowed me to come out of my shell and be more outgoing. By taking that leap to ask people to join my intramural soccer team, I was able to make new friends and boost my own self confidence. I am definitely going to try to carry this mindset throughout the rest of my time at IUPUI. One piece of advice for my future self is to be confident in what I have to contribute, both academically and personally.