Kathleen Dilger Memorial Scholarship

1) As I have entered my 20s I look back to a time where life was all about going to school, recess, lunches, and racing my brothers to and from the bus stop. As an adult now, there have been a plethora of books that have occupied spaces in my mind and heart. One of those books was The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry. I was about 10 when I read this, although I was not so sure about my future I had aspiration to join the STEM field. That book planted one of the first seeds. In the story, a man enters the rainforest planning to cut down a giant kapok tree. As he rests and falls asleep under it, the animals that live in and around the tree come down one by one to plead with him. A boa constrictor, a bee, a frog, monkeys, a jaguar—they all explain how cutting the tree will destroy their home, and that more destruction will follow. Toward the end, a young native child appears and says, “Senhor, when you wake, please look upon us all with new eyes.” That moment really stuck with me. When the man wakes, he sees the animals and the child, puts the axe down, and walks away. That story made me think differently about the natural world. We humans too are part of nature not separate from it. The little child in the story reminds us that when we "other" ourselves from nature, we stop appreciating the balance and wholeness that exists all around us. That book helped me understand that nature isn’t just something we use or visit it’s something we belong to. And that’s a big part of why I was drawn to biology: to better understand the systems that connect all living things, including us. 2) One cool science fact I love is about a muscle called the palmaris longus. You can test if you have it by touching your thumb and pinky together and slightly flexing your wrist if a tendon pops up in the middle of your forearm, that’s it. Not everyone has it! It was useful for better grip when climbing, but now it’s pretty much useless. What’s cool is that surgeons often use it for reconstructive surgeries, since it can be removed without affecting strength. I just think it’s fascinating that our bodies still carry little pieces of evolutionary history like that. P.S I have it on both hands.