This post is for SUM-400. It is being used to connect to SLO 8 (Identify and assess one’s values, interests, and abilities) and SLO 16 (Demonstrate honorable and ethical behavior and civic engagement). All Summit Learning Outcomes can be found on this page.
This post is dedicated to Dr. Henry, my Summit Advisor, who has been with me through every step of this journey and helped guide me to where I am. Thank you for the emails, Skype meetings, and the hours upon hours of advice you’ve given me over the years.
May 24, 2015
I graduated from George Walton Comprehensive High School, ready to pursue my degree in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (BCMB). At this point in my academic life and the ripe old age of 17, I was ready to get my PhD in genetics and save the world from autoimmune thyroiditis.
August 22, 2015
I moved to Decatur, GA to start my undergraduate career at Agnes Scott College.
Academic Year 2015 – 2016
I served as my class representative on the Judicial Board (J-Board). J-Board is a branch of the Agnes Scott Student Conduct and Community Standards Board (a student-led faction of theStudent Government Association) that investigates and adjudicates potential breaches of the Residential Code of Conduct (alcohol/tobacco violations, fire protection, kitchen policies, and guest/visitation policies).
“As a member of the Judicial Board of Agnes Scott College, I do solemnly swear, being ever mindful of the responsibility vested in me by the college, that I will strive in all my work to keep free of personal prejudice; that I will always hold before me the ideals of the Judicial Board and of Agnes Scott and will endeavor continually to bring them to full realization.”
-Agnes Scott College Judicial Board Oath of Office 2018-2019
Fall 2015
I was so ready to declare my major in November of my first semester. I strolled into my advisor’s office with the yellow form I needed her to sign, and she gently told me that I should wait until around that time next year.
March 2016
My Journeys trip to New York City was one of the only times in my life I’d left Georgia for more than four or five days. During our trip, I had the chance to sit down with Dr. Eric Schrimshaw (a medical psychologist at Columbia). This was the first brush I had with public health, and I felt like I couldn’t just walk away from it.
Spring 2016
This was probably one of the hardest semesters of my life. On top of not being able to keep up in my classes, I was dealing with both family and severe medical issues. It was the back half of the semester that made me really question whether or not BCMB was the best choice for me. With the help of my Summit advisor, I made the decision to switch over to the biology program.
Summer 2016
On a whim, I registered to take Topics in Women’s Health (PH-225/WS-225) with my statistics course over the summer. This course was, without exaggeration, easily in the top 3 most influential courses I’ve taken in my time at Agnes.
August 29, 2016
Declared a double major in Biology and Public Health
October 2016
If the spring semester was a whisper that I should reconsider BCMB, the fall was very, VERY loud about it. I had such a difficult time with some of my courses, I had to revise my biology major down to a minor, leaving Public Health as my sole major.
November 2016
I got inducted into Beta Beta Beta, the undergraduate honor society for biological sciences
July 2017
Am I a Women’s Studies major? Maybe.
October 2017
Up to this point, I thought I wanted to go into health policy to mandate comprehensive sexual education. In my Health Policy course, I realized that policy wasn’t the path for me. My scope shifted from policy to maternal and reproductive epidemiology.
March 2018
I realized something: I’m not a Women’s Studies major. If I wanted to take courses outside of the WS program, I wouldn’t be able to complete the concentration as a major.
April 2018
I got inducted to Iota Iota Iota, the undergraduate honor society for Women’s Studies
June and July 2018
I spent the summer interning at the CDC as an Agnes Scott College Bevier scholar.
August 2018
I stepped into a lot of leadership roles, including “student tour guide” and “president of Luchsingers A Capella”. Along with these new roles, I continued as an Orientation Leader, Legacy Leader, and the president of the Role-Playing Games (RPG) Club.
Spring 2019
I plan to finish a secret, third minor (I added Psychology to my concentrations in Biology and Women’s Studies).
May 11, 2019
If everything goes according to plan, this is the day that I’ll finish my degree and receive my diploma from Agnes Scott. This will make me…
- The youngest person to finish college in my family
- The first of my siblings to finish undergrad
- The first person in my family (excluding my stepmother) to pursue a Ph.D.
A lot of people will tell you that some courses swayed their academic journey one way or another. Almost every single one of my courses did that, but I didn’t want to post a whole list of my classes on this page with an explanation about how it changed me as a scholar. Instead, I’d like to analyze what I’ve taken to calling “Critical Courses”, a single course per semester (even though the decisions were really difficult sometimes) that have shaped my career as an epidemiologist.
Walton High School: AP Psychology, Applications of Biotechnology
Fall 2015: Foundational Leadership Seminar (LDR-101) – My first ever “Women’s Studies” course
Spring 2016: Foundations of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry (CHE-220) – Made me realize that BCMB wasn’t the path for me.
Summer 2016: Topics in Women’s Health (PH-225/WS-225) – Sparked my interest in Public Health
Fall 2016: Maternal & Reproductive Health (PH-226/WS-226) – Made me start thinking about sexual education as a Public Health issue
Spring 2016: Disease Ecology (BIO-311) – Dr. Levin’s research with barn swallows made me wonder about the role that digital dating apps (like Tinder) have on the transmission of STIs
Fall 2017: Anthropology of Violence (PH-350/ANT-350) – Allowed me to continue the analysis of gender bias in medicine I’d been exploring since I took PH-225
Spring 2018: Principles of Epidemiology (PH-211) – First real experience with epidemiology, and I was hooked
Summer 2018: Internship with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Not really a class, but it was such a great hands-on experience
Fall 2018: Global Health (PH-311) – Dr. Patterson let me do a whole semester-long research project on how abstinence-only sexual education was a global health problem, and I had an absolute BLAST doing so
