I am pursuing a degree in marine science. My journey to this major has been full of twists and turns. I have been a biology teacher for the past 5 years in north Philadelphia. In my teaching, students lit up when they were able to do real research--to be given the chance to view things that are happening now and to present their findings to classmates with a sense of importance. One of my favorite projects to assign was to create a timeline using the statistics of one species in order to represent the impact of climate change. This was an eye opening experience for me as I have, as a student, struggled to always connect statistics to their actual meanings and indications. Numbers have sometimes felt reductionist and distant to me, divorcing a fact from its meaning. As I watched students use their creativity to put meaning back into those numbers, I realized this was something I equally needed. Here, I was looking at heir final projects: polar bears declining, red drops of blood drawn onto the paper to indicate the direness of the situation, the line plunging downward. As presentations were given, statistics took on new meaning for my class and for me as the teacher. My students were able to represent this sense of future. They--the next generation--have so much work to do, and the statistics backing up this work have never mattered more. That is why I am pursuing my graduate degree. I want to do everything I can to see that these students' voices are heard. My students and I joined the climate strike back in 2019, and I am often reminded about that day. Here was a group of 30 fourteen year olds stepping up, being given a platform to care about something. They researched, they made signs, they took to the street to raise awareness. Every single one of my students agreed that this was the best part of their freshman year biology class. They were part of something with meaning--this is what science has the power to do. I think that science needs to be accessible to all, and I plan to dive into my own research and learnings while keeping at the forefront of my mind, those students, that next generation. Getting my degree in marine science and climate change will, hopefully, enable me to be an even better catalyst for change and allow me to support the next generation and the future of STEM in a very real way.

I am pursuing a degree in marine science. My journey to this major has been full of twists and turns. I have been a biology teacher for the past 5 years in north Philadelphia. In my teaching, students lit up when they were able to do real research--to be given the chance to view things that are happening now and to present their findings to classmates with a sense of importance. One of my favorite projects to assign was to create a timeline using the statistics of one species in order to represent the impact of climate change. This was an eye opening experience for me as I have, as a student, struggled to always connect statistics to their actual meanings and indications. Numbers have sometimes felt reductionist and distant to me, divorcing a fact from its meaning. As I watched students use their creativity to put meaning back into those numbers, I realized this was something I equally needed. Here, I was looking at heir final projects: polar bears declining, red drops of blood drawn onto the paper to indicate the direness of the situation, the line plunging downward. As presentations were given, statistics took on new meaning for my class and for me as the teacher. My students were able to represent this sense of future. They--the next generation--have so much work to do, and the statistics backing up this work have never mattered more. That is why I am pursuing my graduate degree. I want to do everything I can to see that these students' voices are heard. I think that science needs to be accessible to all, and I plan to dive into my own research and learnings while keeping at the forefront of my mind, those students, that next generation. Getting my degree in marine science and climate change will, hopefully, enable me to be an even better catalyst for change and allow me to support the next generation and the future of STEM in a very real way.

It happened last week. I went out to the garden with my garden club students. An alien lifeform seemed to have rooted itself in one of our beds. It's name? Kohlrabi! I had no idea what to do with it. After much googling, we, as a club, would go on to try it pickled, sautéed, roasted, and shaved. We even threw the kale-like leaves into a smoothie! It wasn't until growing this in our garden that I found out that kohlrabi is deemed a superfood. With my students, gardening is closely tied to nutrition. Everybody loves food. I'm almost certain that the cooking aspect of our club is really what draws the kids. Our garden is in north Philadelphia, a place known to be a food desert, but there are some beautiful community gardens in the area. Our school's garden has produced so much that, even after getting our fill and giving out what we can to students and staff, we usually have a good amount to bring to the local food pantry. We experiment in the garden. We grow things we've never cooked before, like kohlrabi, along with the staples of tomatoes, carrots, leafy greens, squash, eggplants, peppers, etc. This helps inspire excitement and curiosity for what we grow, eat, have access to, and how these things affect our bodies. In our research of kohlrabi, students found that it was categorized as a superfood because it is a cruciferous vegetable. Just like collards, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and kale; kohlrabi has a slew of vitamins and even phytochemicals that are known to protect against cancer (https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/10-superfoods-to-boost-a-healthy-diet-2018082914463). If that isn't super, I don't know what is! I've taught biology for five years now and am moving on to get my masters. While I am not a nutritionist, I am someone who has seen direct results of poor eating habits, and firmly believe that paying attention to what we eat can be lifesaving. My grandpa had heart issues that he eventually passed from. I know that if he led a healthier lifestyle, he would have had more years and that breaks my heart. I watch my students come in everyday with corner store purchases like Doritos and honeybuns for breakfast and I watch as they lose attention easily later in the day, complaining that they are hungry and asking if I have any snacks. This garden has helped to serve not only as an immediate food source, but as an educational tool. Pay attention to how your body feels when you eat more intentionally. When you are engaged in the process of, not just eating, but how things get from seed to soil to plant to harvest to pan to plate. When we saw that kohlrabi was a superfood, we continued the search. Are they all such odd and unknown vegetables? In our research, we found that superfoods are not just vegetables, they include many fruits and nuts as well! Even fish makes the list! In my poll with students, berries easily took first, but as far as my own favorite superfood, I have to say the perfect combination of fresh picked tomatoes with a drizzle of olive oil can't be beat. I remember reading a Michael Pollan book that stated that olive oil actually helps us to absorb the lycopene from a tomato! The thought of these two delicious foods interacting to benefit our bodies blew my mind. I thought of how far back the relationship goes in Italy and how, sometimes, our taste and being able to detect pure deliciousness comes even before the science.

Although there are so many that excite me, I would have to say that my all time favorite scientific discovery is that of the structure of DNA. I say this because of the surrounding story, what it sheds light on, and all it has led to. DNA, to begin with, is one of the single most fascinating and complex things on this planet. EVERY living thing contains this genetic code. We have been studying it for so long and STILL new uses and knowledge are being discovered every day! I chose the discovery of its structure(the double helix) in particular because it highlights the work of scientist Rosalind Franklin, who has only recently started to get due credit for her integral part in this discovery. For this reason, she has been titled "the dark lady of DNA." Being a female in science in the 1940's could not have been easy. She has paved the way for so many of us. She died at 37 of ovarian cancer but STILL managed, in such a short time, to contribute so much to science. I remember learning, as a student, about Watson and Crick's discovery of DNA's double helix. I was amazed, in that moment, how much has been discovered that I just get to learn as fact. Scientific discovery is a beautiful part of humanity. The curiosity and awe of it invites us to become part of something bigger than just us. Our DNA connects us to every other living thing on this planet. Despite corruption and all the bad humanity has done, discoveries like this and the ability to honor the many people involved in making them, gives me hope. This is why I, myself, am a woman in science, working to make the field accessible to all!

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