Freshman Advice

Freshman year is tough.  You don't understand where you fit in the scheme of things, especially academically, socially, and emotionally.  Academics is often sacrificed for social activities, and you never know when to reach a balance.  So my advice:

• Do your best academically. Some people are 4.0 driven, which can be good.  But not everyone can get a 4.0....it's very difficult.  Do your assignments, ask for help, and do your best on the tests.  At the end of the 1st or 2nd quarter, you'll find where you rank and whether or not to up-the-ante...you'll probably have to, but that's okay :-)
• Still have fun, especially if it's Friday night. Don't be afraid to get soaked in the rain. Or get lost in a city. Or microwaving CDs...actually I don't condone this. All I can say is, it wasn't my idea.
• Socialize. This is NOT limited to your peers on your dorm floor.  Find clubs where you can meet upperclassmen (and valuable advice). Get a mentor.  Maybe find some graduate school friends? Finally, make small talk with your professors; they are people too! You might find that these actions will pay off early on. 
• Look forward. Similar to my "Maintaining Foresight" post, be sure that you start building your resume early on.  Create a resume...even if it has High School stuff on it.  Attend to career fairs*. Talk to employers. Hand out your resume. See where your degree will take you.  It's better to find out these things very early on than getting 6 weeks to graduation and realizing you will be staring into a microscope all day (and you abhor it).

*Be prepared to be shot down because you are a "freshman."  It's okay. It happens to the best of us.  These recruiters don't realize that these same "freshmen" will be speaking to them in like...two years? And they don't forget things, haha. 

Taking a Look Back: High School

High school is a very difficult time to imagine your future self.  My high school experience consisted of colorguard and school.  That was my life.  I hated being at school, and would often want to go home to finish my homework. However, my peers and I would often dream about our potential in college or even after college.

I distinctly remember when a good friend and I were sitting in Mr. H's Junior AP English class, discussing college admissions.  "If I don't get into college, I'm gunna have LOTS of babies and go on welfare!" We were very nervous about our potential to get into the University of California system, even with our grades at the time. Our teacher simply laughed at our future "plans" and said, "You'll get into college. Don't worry about it." (Well, we did, and now we're rocking our respective UC campuses.)

In the same class (different day), the same friend was discussing my career prospects. "Serena! When you go work for NASA, will you name something after me?"  I basically scoffed at my idea of working for the glorious organization, and said, "Sure, I'll name something after you." To be honest, it was an empty promise at the time.  However after a few years at the university, I started to realize my potential in the "real world," and the words of the promise started to take hold.

This past July, I was offered to intern at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.  I visited my good friend in August, and I told her that if I did, in fact, design something, I would name it after her (but only her nickname that she hated, hehehe).

Two weeks into my NASA internship, I got to design and build something.  It's basically rapid prototyped (you should look it up! it's totally cool!).

This is the part I created.  I added some 80-esq to it to give it some flavor.  And I named it "Malroy." It is used to hold my experimental samples while gluing them with the adhesive (I'll be sure to add my research later.).

Now it's really funny looking back.  You never realize where you are going to be in 5 years.  I currently wonder where I'm going to be 5 years from now.  But similar things will probably happen if I continue to work hard and be excited about what I do.  I hope this story is inspirational.  I do admit that it IS true.