Week 1:
My First Week Has Been Awesome
June 12, 2020 | The day finally arrived when my mom and I were taking the 10 hour journey to Austin, Texas for me to start my internship at Justice for Our Neighbors. Justice for our Neighbors, also known as JFON, is a non-profit pro-bono law firm that focuses on immigration and education to the public about the current […]
Week 1:
A Pandemic Can’t Stop Me
June 12, 2020 | Most years, the Rogers Fellow in Environmental Studies heads to Columbia, South Carolina to work at the Baruch Marine Institute there. This year though, COVID-19 had a different idea. When I found out that this lab could not bring in undergraduate researchers for the summer, I was upset about losing the opportunity. Luckily, a team […]
Week 2:
The Cost of Homelessness
June 6, 2020 | Writing on the walls of the Cedar Rapids Public Library. I’ve been filming a lot of personal moments. A man losing his job for being unhoused. A man newly released from jail wondering which parking lot to sleep in. Someone taken to the hospital for severe mental health issues. The lives of the homeless in Cedar […]
Week 1:
A Documentary About A Shelter
May 30, 2020 | It is the end of week one and I am exhausted. My project for the summer comes with simple guidelines: Make a documentary following the staff and clients of a homeless shelter grappling with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. My patron and muse is Willis Dady Homeless Services, the only shelter for men in […]
Week 8:
Reflecting on my Experience
April 3, 2020 | The past week has seen some major developments in the lab. With COVID-19 still a major pandemic around the world, my mentor Dr. Law has developed a new project that assesses how suicidal thoughts and behaviors change over time in healthcare providers. Since these individuals are very vulnerable at this time, such as working in […]
Week 7:
Shifting Directions
March 27, 2020 | I worked from my AirBnB this past week again. Now that all of the grad students are on spring break, things have been slowing down for me in terms of research progress. Basically I’ll get up in the morning and do some work for the day but I’ll try and get outside just so that […]
Week 6:
How I’ve dealt with Coronavirus in Seattle
March 20, 2020 | This week I worked from my AirBnB since SPU closed down and the CDC is advising social distancing due to COVID-19. At first I wasn’t too concerned about the virus impacting my life, because I thought the media was blowing things out of proportion early on. But, after learning more about the effects of the […]
Week 5:
Making Tough Decisions
March 13, 2020 | Last Saturday my mentor held a pizza poster party at her apartment for our lab. It was really fun and also very productive since we spent the day working on our project abstracts for an upcoming research conference. I think it’s really a cool thing to do because we got to just hang out but […]
Week 4:
The Process of Research
March 6, 2020 | I cannot believe almost a month has passed since I got here. I’ve learned so much more about what grad school is like since I’m part of the research team now. I’ve also gotten a better sense of what it’s like living on my own in a large city. I could definitely see myself living […]
Week 3:
Interview Day
February 28, 2020 | On Monday I had my interview for the clinical PhD program at Seattle Pacific University (SPU). Every interviewee is a little nervous during these days, but I was feeling pretty comfortable since I was familiar with the SPU campus and I had already met my mentor (Dr. Keyne Law) and her grad students. So, my […]