Goodbye Project SEED

Project SEED has taught me so much about myself, and what I am most grateful for is the confidence it has given me. I do not attend a very challenging school so Project SEED showed me that when I am challenged I can step up and succeed. I will never forget my first week of Project SEED when I received articles written by Professors and scientist for other professionals in the field. The reading was beyond my comprehension. I read page after page unable to understand a word of it. Then when I finally finished reading the article I would sit stunned, because I was just as well off as before I read the article. I understood absolutely nothing. It was like reading another language and honestly it was another language. It was scientific language where the reader was expected to know the jargon. Reading one paper took me, well a very long time. Last year I became a better reader, and a somewhat better writer. I also became a more independent person. In high school I always had someone pushing me to do my best, but in Project SEED I didn’t have someone pushing me to do better. I focused on completing my work when it needed to be done and working when I knew I should be and asking questions when I really needed to. Being a high school student in an academic lab I realized that I had to learn very quickly and the only way I could do that was by asking questions. In high school if you don’t understand something you’re usually not the only one that is clueless so you didn’t have to ask all the questions, other students would. I didn’t have that. Project SEED puts you in the situation where you might be clueless, but you have people that can help you. You have to know what you don’t know and ask those questions until you understand the subject you’re trying to learn inside and out, because when you present your data it is going to be to people that don’t understand a word of it, so you have to explain it for them in a way that they can easily understand what you are saying. This is something I learned from my advisor Mr. Lucas who I went to for many reasons, one of them being my inability to understand what i don’t understand. When I did my work I could easily explain why I did each step and how, but I didn’t understand why I used the things I used or how they are better compared to other things and I realized that I still didn’t understand so much. Mr. Lucas showed me that I didn’t understand...anything. So I had to ask a plethora of questions. Now I understand my research inside and out.

Project SEED has also given me an idea of what I want in a college. Spending two summers at Duquesne has allowed for me to experience a medium size college. It has given me a chance to see if I would want to go to a college the same size as Duquesne or if I preferred a smaller or bigger college. Another way Project SEED helped me pick where I want to attend in the future,was the visit we took to Washington and Jefferson. Duquesne is a similar size to Duquesne, but they are very different and Washington and Jefferson is a college that I am considering going to. The opportunities there are very good, and although it is not a big college it still has many things to offer.

Doing Project SEED has also given me the opportunity to decide if I want to choose a career in science. I had opportunities to experience what it is like to work in academia as a scientist and had the chance to see science in industry. Having the chance to talk with people that have done both academia and industry and get advice from them about why they chose their careers was something I am very grateful for.

So overall, Project SEED has really been life changing. Of course there were times when it was really stressful and I felt discouraged, but once I overcame those moments I felt like a stronger person. I really feel like I can take on the world. Last but definitely not least I am so happy I had the chance to meet people from other schools who have similar interests as me, and become such great friends with them. I even had a chance to meet and become friends with people from my school that I did not know very well. The friends that I have made from this experience have become more like an extended family. I still talk to and hang out with students from last years Project SEED, and I feel like I will this year as well. Project SEED is awesome and a great summer experience. Actually, my little brother is very interested in science as well, and I am encouraging him to apply for Project SEED. It really does change who you are.

Goodbye Project SEED and thank you for all you have done for me! You will be missed!