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Marcellino Melika

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Bio

Hello! My name is Marcellino Melika, and I am a junior at Francis Lewis High School. I'm an aspiring physician or pharmaceutical scientist, and I plan to go into a major incorporating fundamentals of both bio- and chemical engineering for my bachelors degree, as well as a possible double major in business management. I hope to possibly start my own pharmaceutical company in the future. I'm currently involved in the pursuit of scientific research, journalism, and music. For my future professional career, I intend to commit a lot of my time into doing research, and I already am, being apart of my schools four-year Science Research Program. One of my projects involve looking at the recognition and effects of the sound of water on plant growth, now going into my third year working on this project with already extremely promising data. In addition, I'm working with a St. Joseph's university faculty member on biomedical engineering research focusing on selection of 3D-printing filaments for use in the creation of customized finger splints. I have also begun researching the effects of academic opportunity in New York City Title 1 public schools on motivation for high school students. I've won several awards so far for my work, one of which being 3rd place overall for the Journal of Youth Explorers Meta (JYEM) competition, open to both high school and college students and having approximately 900 initial applicants. My biggest goal in life, first and foremost, is to cause positive change, and I hope that, eventually, I will be able to through my pursuit of research.

Education

Francis Lewis High School

High School
2021 - 2025

Miscellaneous

  • Desired degree level:

    Doctoral degree program (PhD, MD, JD, etc.)

  • Majors of interest:

    • Biochemical Engineering
    • Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Other
    • Biotechnology
    • Computer Science
  • Planning to go to medical school
  • Career

    • Dream career field:

      Medical Practice

    • Dream career goals:

      To make global change and help people all around the world.

    • Researcher (SYEP)

      Francis Lewis High School
      2022 – 2022

    Research

    • Plant Sciences

      Francis Lewis High School — Researcher/Team leader
      2021 – Present

    Arts

    • Francis Lewis High School

      Journalism
      2022 – Present
    • Francis Lewis High School

      Music
      2021 – Present

    Public services

    • Advocacy

      EZesports — Associate Director, Broadcaster
      2022 – Present
    • Volunteering

      URounded — Curriculum Specialist
      2023 – Present
    • Volunteering

      Etai — Environmental Volunteer
      2023 – 2023

    Future Interests

    Advocacy

    Volunteering

    Philanthropy

    Entrepreneurship

    Science Fiction Becomes Science Fact Scholarship
    The above quote talks about a phenomenon that (at least from my perspective, as a teenager in college) that is extremely common and affects way more then you might think on the surface (including me). In online forums or games, people (myself included) tend to act very differently from how they might normally act in a real-life setting. The constant exposure and behavior in this type of manner on a constant basis has then led to the partial incorporation of it into real-life settings. One, for example, that affects me, my friends, and the people around me is language. The type of language used in these online settings, usually not used in actual conversations, has started to spread into actual conversations. One notable example of which that I can think of (that I have actually heard people around me and my friends say in actual conversations, albeit slightly ironically) is "I'm dead :skull: x7" (actually saying the skull x7 part as well). Something like this - incorporating the use of emojis - is probably high on the list of things that shouldn't ever be said OUTLOUD. Yet, the behavior, actions, and language used on online gaming forums to those normally used in everyday conversations has started to blend together, leading to people actually saying "I'm dead skull x7". Subsequently, other variations of this saying have been more commonly used (including me) like just saying "I'm dead" and not vocalizing the use of emojis that would normally almost always follow that specific phrase if used while texting or in any sort of online forum/chat. Additionally, not only has language started to merge between online gaming forums and real-life social interaction, discarding the social norms of civil discourse and actions, but how people even hold and respond in conversations. Similarly to the use of foreign phrases in actual conversations, another component of online gaming forums has started to (in some circumstances) merge with real-life social interaction, being kind or nice. Due to the nature of online gaming forums, as well as the prevalence of toxicity present in them, being "rude" (even sarcastically or not) is very common, and has even transferred over to real-life interactions and conversations as well. This discards the common accepted social norm of the idea that, in general, you should be nice with other people, especially to people close to you like friends and family. Online gaming forums have not only started to merge into real-life social interaction, but has already affected (presumably) millions around the globe in their interactions, even including me.