The Beauty Within

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately on my undergrad career.  I’m going to graduate at this summer, and right now I’m fixing up my resume for job applications.  It’s got me thinking about things like how I got sucked into the crazy world of South Campus, and also how I chose to go into science in the first place.

Growing up I wasn’t one of those science geeks who entered science fairs, had cool fun science related kits, or even was into science.  I remember not getting the point of science classes up til 7th grade!  I remember my 7th grade science class pretty well, partially due to my dislike for the teacher.  She did not like me very much, and I remember distinctly like she did not enter in a grade for an assignment in her grade book (she didn’t even use Excel, and this was 1998 already!).

Her class consisted of having everyone read text outloud, which is a waste of time, no?  We read textbooks, The Time Machine, and other random science text.  We also spent a lot of time learning about rocks, which I really did not care for.  I actually still don’t care for it!  She even gave me a C on my science project on attempting to germinate cooked black beans (the black beans used in chinese dishes).  So overall I found science to be totally confusing and a waste of time.  Looking back, the way I was taught science, IT WAS A WASTE OF TIME!

This changed the summer going from 7th to 8th grade.  I had signed up to take Japanese 1 at the high school as a foreign language requirement, but there was some sort of scheduling conflict between Japanese 1 and “Integrated Science Honors”.  The principal of my middle school called me while I was in Taiwan and asked me between those 2 classes, which class did I want to take.  Now, I was totally NOT recommended to take any sort of honors or advanced science class by my 7th grade science teacher, but since the principal offered it, I said sure!  She placed me in, and shortly school began.

I was enjoying the class at the high school with kids from my class when my sister asked, “why don’t you see if you can skip this class and take Biology Honors?”  She had taken the biology course 2 years prior with the lovely teacher, Mr. Pang (not to be mistaken with Professor Pang, the dude that teaches general chem labs), so she thought why not.  I didn’t know where to go to find out if that’s possible, so I walked into a random office in the administration building (turns out to be one of the assistant principal’s office), and the secretary said that was no problem.  She got the paperwork ready for me, and told me I had to get it signed by the Biology teacher.  I walk in, and the first question Mr. Pang asks was, “do you have a sister?”  He stared at me, and in my still young and youthful voice, I explained I was an 8th grader in the other science class, but I really want to take his class instead.  I had to assure him that I would catch up really quickly, and it wouldn’t be a problem that I enrolled late.  He signed the paper, I returned it to the nice secretary (who remained to be really nice through out my entire HS career), and I was automatically enrolled in Biology Honors.

For some odd reason, the material taught in this class made sense to me.  I even got praised for getting one of the higher scores on the first test even though I missed a week or 2 weeks of class.  I just really enjoyed the material, and I was so happy that I actually excelled in a science course.  I was also happy that I didn’t have to do a science project (really, at that level of science, what ground breaking shit can you do that hasn’t already been done?)!!  Throughout that whole year my sister was really encouraging, and she helped me study and made sure I did fine.  I even remember watching a very old movie on the immune syste, and I’m pretty sure it was shown because Mr. Pang himself probably never took immunology.  I don’t blame him, who would unless they had to?
The next year, for some reason I didn’t enroll in Chemistry Honors (even though I got an A in Bio Honors), but I was enrolled in Anatomy.  I took the class for 2 or 3 weeks, but I got into ASB, which had the “ASB class” during the same time as Anatomy, so I waved bye bye to Anatomy.   Til today, I still haven’t taken a course on anatomy yet, and I really don’t kow if I will.  Would it be necessary if I went into a microbio graduate program?  Anyhow…. the next year I enrolled in Chem Honors, and again, things clicked on a surface level.  I managed to do well in the course, so the next year, I opted to take Chemistry AP rather than Physics AP since I was scared of Physics.  Chemistry AP was offered as an independent course the year I took it, so I got really good with card games, and became good friends with this young Science teacher in the adjacent classroom.  Needless to say, I managed to pass the AP exam without studying (which started a peculiar trend of me not studying and passing classes).  By that time I started wanting to go to college to science, and eventually end up a pharmacist.

My last year of HS, I was enrolled in Bio AP with the same teacher that taught Bio honors, Mr. Pang.  He welcomed me back in his class and was excited to see me.  4 years however, can change young people, and I went back a totally different person than the one he remembered.  I was constantly talking in class and I was not shy about sharing my opinions.   Needless to say, I got a C in his class, but I did pass the AP exam!

During that same year, I was tossing between science or business while applying to colleges, and after talking to my dad, he suggested science.  He reasoned that business isn’t a “safe” and guaranteed major, but with a science degree, I will have a stable job.  It made sense, so I went with it and checked the “Biochemistry” box when I applied to UCLA.  There was just TOO many majors to choose from anyways, so how the hell was I suppose to know what majors like LGBT or Women’s Studies was about.  I just picked something that sounded familiar and stuck to it.

College started, and I did not do well in my first chem class.  I ended up dropping the class at the last minute, and I wondered, maybe I’m not cut out for this.  With my sister and dad’s encouragement, I gave it another go the next quarter, and I was able to pass the class.  I did slightly better in chem 20b, but I still hated chem.  I really thought about going North campus and doing history or women’s studies, but my dad was like, “what are you gonna do with a degree in those?  Why don’t you wait until you’re older and learn about those subjects when you are settled down.”  I figured he made sense, so I kept on trekking and trekking, through o chem and all the LS classes.  By summer after 2nd year, I knew for sure I did not want to stay in biochem, but  I didn’t want to go North campus because I had finished practically ALL the pre-major courses for all other Life Science majors.  I first tried to get into psychobio, but I couldn’t get in cuz I already had too many units, and I hadn’t even taken psych 10.

Luckily that summer I took LS 4 with Shelley Thai, and I just fell in love with the material.  I loved calculating the % risk of a child inheriting a recessive disorder if the % occurence in the population was X.  It just clicked and I had a lot of fun.  I decided that I’ll look into MIMG (mainly because it had Genetics in the major name), so I booked an appointment with the undergrad advisor.  I went in and saw this super young woman with bright bubble gum pink hair (think Rachel McAdams cute), and I told her I’m interested in switching to MIMG, and asked her what the process was.  She said it can be done through her, and right there, at that moment, she switched me to MIMG AND helped me plan out my next 2 years in college.

I was really excited about leaving Biochem behind, but I did not realize that MIMG was one of the hardest LS majors.  I passed 101 without studying (remember earlier about the trend?), and even managed to do decent in 156 without studying either.  I took my first non-chem lab the next summer, and I totally loved it.  I was like, OMG, I’m not fucking up like crazy like I usually do in chem labs… wait.. MAYBE I DON’T SUCK IN LABS LIKE I THOUGHT!!!  MAYBE IT’S JUST CHEM LABS, MORE SPECIFICALLY, O CHEM LABS!!!  I managed a decent grade without studying much more it, and I felt like I learned so much.

Then came Fall.. Fall of my last year at UCLA.. I figured it was time to gain some lab experience, so I looked at how I could apply, and I also emailed an old TA for some advice.. I got a reply back from Dr. Hirsch, and I almost didn’t get a position.. she figured since I’m already a 4th year, what can she possibly do with me?  Without any lab experiences, how much does she have to teach me before I’m ready to do actual experimental work.. she figured she’ll give me an afternoon, and see how I do before she gives me an answer..

I still remember that she had me make some agar plates.. I guess I didn’t do too horribly, because she said I can go back the next day.. so I returned the next day and made even more plates.. and for a few weeks I just made plates and did random jobs.. she finally felt I was ready (actually it wasn’t that long.. maybe 3 or 4 weeks?), and assigned a really fun project to me, and placed me under a mentor..

and I guess the rest is history.. I’m working my ass off on my project.. when I’m finished with my report, I’ll upload it and share it with u guys.. why?  I’m damn proud of my work and I should be!  I went from almost not even getting into Hirsch lab to having an independent project!!  I can carry on a conversation about science, and even teach people about it!  right now it’s just finalizing my resume, and getting it all out there.. my goal?  lab tech in forensics lab.. and yes.. I do watch too much TV..