A recent turning point in my life has been my STEM Capstone experiment. Last year, I took a chance, rearranged my entire schedule, and enrolled in the STEM Capstone course at my high school. Unfortunately, the pandemic persisted for the entirety of my course. In a normal year, students would generally work with a mentor in a scientific lab facility, but with most of the scientific facilities locked down, I was unable to get in anywhere. But, I was determined to conduct this experiment. I teamed up with another student in my class, and we worked together to source materials, connect with mentors, and ultimately set up our experiment in a science-hall supply closet at our school. Since most of our equipment was homemade, Cora and I spent weeks on end troubleshooting, but honestly, I wouldn’t change it for the world. We ended up winning a couple awards and made more of an impact than I could have hoped for.

The common thread through my experience in this course was the demand for creative reasoning, problem solving, and flexibility. At the outset of these experiments, our mentors warned Cora and I that we would have to be flexible and ready to troubleshoot problems in our experiment. They told us that a large component of scientific research is the ability to think on the fly. While this was definitely sound advice, Cora and I figured our experiments would probably be the exception to this rule. After all, our methods seemed really good- on paper, at least. It wasn't long before we began to heed that advice. Even though we ran into challenges, problem-solving experimental errors became one of my favorite facets of my STEM Capstone experiment. I was consistently encouraged by the creative ways Cora and I decided to solve our problems. I felt like I was capable of doing this research, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was fulfilling my potential as a student and a scientist.

If it weren't for this course, the trajectory of my life may have turned out differently. Now, I'm going to community college to study Biology, and I plan to transfer into a Biochemistry program. I have mentors, connections, and a strong research portfolio to provide a foundation for this field of study. I'm incredibly excited for my future in this field, and I cannot wait to begin researching again.