In the past several months, I've started to become more interested in working in the medical field. I began volunteering at Sharp Chula Vista as a maternity aide during the summer after my sophomore year. I absolutely loved working with patients, discharging patients, and delivering specimens to the lab. In addition, I got the opportunity to work with nurses and hospital staff to make sure the patients needs were met. I returned as an Inpatient Volunteer during my Junior Year, and now work even more closely with the nurses at the nurses station., delivering specimens to the lab, transporting prescriptions, communicating patients' needs with nurses and staff, and assisting with clerical duties.
My biology teacher recommended that I contact Professor Amanda Roberts at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla to request an internship working in the department of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. Professor Roberts warmly invited me to work in her lab, home of state-of-the-art behavioral testing. I didn't anticipate that I would ever have this opportunity, and I'm extremely excited to see what this new experience will bring me.
As of now, I'm not entirely sure of what tasks I will be completing on a daily basis. I contacted a former student, Jose, who completed his internship with Professor Roberts two years ago, and found that he spent a majority of his time setting up experiments and recording data. In addition, he conducted surgery on two mice during his time there. This especially excites me, as this year I've learned a great deal about the human brain- and loved it!
I will be visiting Professor Roberts' Lab on Thursday, and getting a better understanding of what my tasks will consist of. I'm the most nervous about being in a laboratory atmosphere. I've never spent more than a few minutes working in a lab, so this will be an entirely new experience for me. I've also never worked with mice before, and I don't know what that experience will be like. I'm concerned that I won't be intelligent enough to be working in a setting like this. I know that I'm going to be surrounded by intense equipment and extremely intelligent, experienced individuals, and I'm worried that my abilities won't be enough. After wrestling with these fears for a few days, I bought them to some of my mentors, all of whom assured me that my job as an intern is to learn. With their help, I've accepted the fact that I won't know nearly as much as my mentors know, but working alongside them will be a huge educational experience. After this realization, I feel more ready to dive into what ever challenges will come with taking on this internship.