Autumn 2022
NEUSCI 302, NUTR 405,
HONORS 499, NEUSCI 499
NEUSCI 302
I experimented with my study techniques a lot in this course. Flashcards, mind mapping, writing study guides, reading my notes out loud. . . I tried them all. Surprisingly, this helped me stay engaged and keep up with how fast we were learning the content. Some of my favorite topics were the auditory system, fish electroreception, and spinal cord development. A lot of these topics were also built on the knowledge that we had gained from past neuro courses, which helped me reflect on how far I've come since getting into the major.
As expected, the labs were the toughest part of this course. But with great lab partners and a supportive TA, the weekly 3-hour lab sessions became more bearable. Although it was painful to have to put 20 hours into each lab report, I'm proud of how much my scientific writing skills have improved. We also ended the quarter by doing a group presentation on an experiment we designed and tested, which was yet another experience that showed me how much I enjoyed science communication.
NUTR 405
I registered for this course last minute to cover my major elective requirements, but it ended up being one of the most useful courses I've ever taken. By going over topics like weight stigma, joyful movement, and the measurement of physical activity, I learned a lot about health-related fitness that I hadn't thought about before. A critical component of this course was participating in group discussions, where we rotated our roles every week. In the week that I was the Illustrator, I designed a graphic that summarized social support approaches to physical activity. Moving forward, I'm excited to take what I've learned and apply it to my own life!
HONORS 499
Honors courses have always been the highlight of my quarter and this independent study was no exception. Between hours of writing and doing literature searches and participating in weekly check-in meetings with my mentor Sophie, I developed various professional skills such as collaborative communication, critical thinking, and time management, all of which have made me a stronger writer.
My favorite part about working on this publication was how Sophie and I bounced off each other’s ideas. A great example of this was my discovery of Arthur Chickering’s Seven Vectors theory. Although I initially just included it as another reference, I love how we were able to expand on this theory, use it as the foundation for one of our sections, and turn it into a figure, as shown above. We did not envision this section to turn out this way, but our creativity turned it into something greater!
On the other hand, something I struggled with was finding my writing style. This was my first time writing for a practitioner audience, and I felt I had to be creative, concise, and practical all at once. Due to this, there were many days when I sat down to write but struggled to develop a vision of what I wanted to put down. I found the brain dumps we did helpful for this, as they forced me to become comfortable with just getting something down and worrying about perfecting it later. Although I have always acknowledged that writing is a nonlinear process, working on this publication has made me even more cognizant of that and encouraged me to embrace it.
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Overall, Sophie and I celebrated that despite how challenging this quarter was for both of us, we managed to get our publication close to 4000 words! I'm so thankful for the passion, time, and support that Sophie shared with me, and I look forward to getting our publication out through journals and conferences once it's complete!