I can say without a doubt in mind that the summer I spent in Hawai’i is the best summer I’ve experienced. During those six weeks, I got the chance to interact with so many different people as well as expand my knowledge of science while in the lab. Dr. Mezler’s lab is not only one of the largest labs in the St.John’s building, but is also one of the most diverse and complex ones. This lab consists of 9 members including the professor. I got the chance to work with almost all of the members and assist them with their work. Throughout the six weeks, my mind has been exposed to everything from plant viruses to invasive species to fieldwork. Due to the varied topics presented by each of the Master and Ph.D. students, I was able to obtain insight concerning a vast array of scientific fields. The experience I gained while at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa lab is a once in a lifetime type of experience for me.
For the first few days of lab, I would often spend my time watching and learning. If not, I would be doing the basic work such as gel electrophoresis or PCR with my graduate student. Soon enough, I was doing lab work independently. The feeling I received after conducting and completing a scientific test on my own for the first time was one of the greatest feelings of my life. Unfortunately, the test didn’t go as planned. In fact, the test failed multiple times. Although this made me feel dejected, I knew that I couldn’t give up. Instead, I used my graduate student’s help to find out the reason the results didn’t come out as desired. We made many adjustments such as creating new buffers for the test, changing the measurements and quantities, preparing new samples, and much more. Sadly, even after the numerous changes and extra precautions taken to avoid any chance of cross-contamination, the test still wouldn’t work 100% of the time, which is what is required. Waiting for the results of the experiment would be one of the most nerve-racking feelings. Even though I saw a lot of failed results, I never got used to the feeling, I would always get a little sorrowful every time I saw that the test I conducted failed. Nonetheless, I learned that this is what science is, you can’t expect to always get what you want. Moving on, as mentioned above, I was opened to so many different areas of science. I did something new almost every day: collecting mites from leaf samples, tissue culture, using a kit to extract DNA from the mycelium of grown fungi, planting hibiscus seeds, extracting TNA using CTAB, DNA cloning, creating a master mix for cDNA synthesis, maintaining colonies of Coconut Rhinoceros Beetles, going to the magoon, collecting samples from the Dole Pineapple Plantation, and much more.
Apart from my lab experience, living in Hawai’i has given me so many memories that I will cherish forever and stories that I will talk about and laugh at. I remember going up the Koko Head hike and being exhausted but listening to the people coming down saying “it’s worth it!” It definitely was. My favorite hike would have to be Lanikai Pillbox Hike and Pu’u Ma’eli’eli simply because it felt the most natural. As for the beaches, it is too hard to pick, all were beautiful. Another aspect of living in Hawai’i is the independent feeling. It was my responsibility to be at a place on time. The lifestyle that I created in Hawai’i for myself compared to how I live in Bangkok, differ greatly. The six weeks in Hawai’i required a lot more of personal responsibility. I had a specific time I had to be at the lab by and I had a time interval that I had to reach lunch by. I used to be apart of quite a few time-sensitive experiments which required me to be back in time after my lunch break to proceed with the next step. Hawaii has improved my time management skills which is going to be very helpful as I begin the IB course.
This summer science course allowed for personal growth and I’m extremely grateful to everyone who was a part of it and for my graduate student who not only taught me about his work, but also how to succeed in a lab. Finally, I would like to say thank you to everyone that volunteered their time to help make this trip possible because it was truly the best trip I’ve been a part of.
CAS LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1. Strength & growth
6. Global engagement