Blog Challenge #2 - Jisca

        When I saw that the blog challenge for this week was to interview a graduate student, I asked myself how I was going to do it. The reason behind that is I am a very quiet person and I don't talk that much. So, I find it difficult to sit in front of a stranger and question them about their decisions.  I wrote down my questions and ended up asking a graduate called Breeanna Mintmier.  The Questions are:
  1. Did you know in high school that you were going t o go to college and major in chemistry?
  2. Why did you choose chemistry?
  3. Was freshman year hard?
  4. Did you go to Duquesne for college?
  5. How many years did it take you to graduate?
  6. Which one was harder for you, high school or college?
  7. How did you learn about this summer job for graduates?
  8. How many years have you done this summer program?
  9. Did you get to choose the lab that you work with or do they just assign you one?
10. Is working in the lab like your chemistry classes in college?
11. Did you do something that was published?
12. How many labs have you worked in so far?
13. Would you consider working in the labs fun?
14. Do you like the people that you work with?
15. Did you do this summer program when you were an undergraduate?
16. Do the labs get new undergraduates every year?

      In high school, Breeanna Mintmier had no idea that she was going to major in chemistry.  It wasn't until her senior year that she was sure that she was going to major in something that involves science.  After her high school years, Breeanna went to IUP (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) for her pre-med.  She chose IUP because it was close enough for her to stay home and with that, her cost was cut.  She needed to take chemistry classes for her pre-med.  After spending some time in the labs there, Breeanna decided to change what she was majoring in.  That is how she started going to college majoring in chemistry.  Her experience in high school was totally different than college.  She thought that college was way harder than high school.  Her freshman year was the hardest because she was going to an honors college and had to adjust to everything.  She had to keep many journals, read many things that were handed to her, and have time management.  But, after 4 years, Breanna became a graduate student. 

        Breeanna first heard about the summer program at Duquesne when her science professor from IUP took her class to see how it was.  After she graduated, she knew exactly what was on her list next.  She chose Duquesne out of many other schools for her graduate because she thought it was the best choice for her.  She didn't really want to go far away.  This is Breeanna's first time doing the summer program at Duquesne.  She had the chance to go around and look at all of the labs in Duquesne before choosing which one she wanted to work with.  Her choice was Dr. Basu's lab.  Her experience was a lot different than college.  There is more hands on work and you tend to get more failures.  She did help Dr. Basu publish something.  Breeanna was involved with his grant writing.  She would consider that working in the labs is frustrating, but you get to meet new people and go to other schools to see what they are doing.  So far, she had a great time and is looking forward to working with more undergraduates in the future.