Key Hartwick Activities: Honors Program, WRHO, Student Senate, Student Union
Career Plans: I hope to attend graduate school, furthering my education in molecular biology or genetics. Beyond that, I'm not quite sure.
Most Influential Class: Genetics with biology professor Stan Sessions sophomore year turned me on to that field. It's a requirement for all biology majors, and some students come away disliking the field—but I fell in love with it. We conducted many labs dealing with Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) genetics, which is what I am doing my thesis on. It was an introductory class, but Professor Sessions did a great job of explaining the implications of molecular biology and genetics. In studying genetics, we're capable of finding cures and treatments for many of the ailments that inflict suffering on people. This sort of social implication and the idea of helping to ease the lives of the suffering intrigued me; it really piqued my interest.
Outstanding Experience: Opportunities for Otsego's Big Brother program, which I participated in sophomore year, was important to me because it allowed me to assume the role of a role model. I was able to become a source of information for an 11-year-old and provide all sorts of valuable knowledge that I had learned throughout life and college. It was a very fulfilling experience.
About My Professors: Biology professor Doug Hamilton has provided incredible guidance that has pushed me to become the student that I am today. Biology professor Douglas Dorer, with whom I am doing my senior thesis project, has been an indispensable source of information concerning genetics, the field I'm interested in entering.
Professor Hamilton always challenges me to take difficult classes—not just in biology. He encourages me to take classes that I might otherwise not even think about. Instead of taking a relatively easy English class, I took a 300-level class on Shakespeare, which turned out to be a particularly challenging and intellectually stimulating experience. While the class had nothing to do with my future career, it made me a well-rounded student and a better student. Successfully completing this difficult challenge gave me the mentality that I could tackle any sort of task at the collegiate level.
