2015-2016 Year-In-Review
Year-in-reviews are interesting because they force me to ponder over everything that happened to me in the past 365 days. It makes me realize how much I’ve changed, both on purpose and on accident. This year, for example, I purposefully changed my direction in life. Previously, I had been on track to graduating early with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, but in the middle of the summer while I was participating in a two week long clinical trial, I realized how much I missed science and the challenges it had always presented me with. My realization led me to change my major to medical laboratory science. This single adjustment to my life—so simple and innocent—is the key to everything that happened to me these past two semesters.
One of the first things my change in major affected was my class schedule. Because I was a year behind, I had to take both freshman and sophomore level science classes, which put me in the lectures and labs of chemistry, biology, and anatomy all at once. While I reveled in the new challenges presented to me by this difficult course load, the stress of three science classes worth of work quickly began to weigh on me. Throughout the year it caused me lose several hours of sleep, my overall GPA suffered, and it wasn’t too uncommon for me to completely breakdown, including in the middle of class. Despite all of this, I still discovered something extremely important about myself: by the end of the second semester, I was beginning to learn how to accept my failures without allowing them to negatively affect my self-esteem or perseverance. It was a lesson I was long overdue for, ever since my senior year of high school had been so academically disappointing. It’s been a difficult lesson to swallow, and I still haven’t fully digested it yet, but it has already made my college career seem a great deal less daunting.
The second largest change in my life that stemmed from my new major was my acceptance of a laboratory assistant position in the Department of Cancer Biology on UC’s medical campus. I was miserable at my old job, despite the excellent monetary payoff. This led me to search for something different, and I stumbled upon one of the best things that has happened to me this year: an opportunity to be a part of the Plas Lab. My major change and my multitude of science classes gave me the courage to apply, and my decision that my happiness and aspirations to help people should always come before a desire to make more money gave me the courage to accept the job offer when it finally came. And I couldn’t be happier that I did. I’ve learned so much working there over the school year, and they were generous enough to offer me a full time position for over the summer. Even though I won’t be continuing with research after I graduate (that’s the plan, but we all know how things like that usually go!), working at the Plas Lab has given me extraordinary experiences and skill sets that I can’t wait to apply in my future endeavors.
While the correlations between my change in major and the friendships I have lost and formed this year may seem week, my suddenly busier schedule greatly decreased the times I had the time or actually wanted to work on my relationships with people. This led me realizing who was truly important in my life, so I worked hard on those relationships. Not only that, but random lapses in schoolwork allowed me to form new friendships completely by chance. In fact, one instance of this led me to meeting my new favorite person in the entire world. He motivates me to be the absolute best I can be, and, quite honestly, helped me pull through the spring semester more than he realizes. He has become completely integrated into my life, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. If I hadn’t changed my major, I may have never met him, or I may have met him at a time where we couldn’t become as close as we are now. I can’t imagine never having the opportunity to get to know him and be inspired by him, and I know I will never regret doing so.
So many things have happened this past year: I bought a dog, but had to leave her behind in Missouri. I felt completely defeated by my abilities as an equestrian, then found myself improving to the point where I finally moved up into a jumping level. Friendships dissolved, but were replaced by people so amazing I sometimes think I’ve imagined them all (lucky for me that I always remember how uncreative I am). My GPA decreased, and while I am still disappointed in that, I can appreciate how hard I did work for the grades I earned. I accidentally ran a Tough Mudder and somehow kept up with my teammates. I traveled Ireland for two weeks with just my sister, which was my first time in Europe, and it was indescribable. And now I’m in Cincinnati for the summer working a full time job that is exactly what I used to describe as my “dream job” when I was in high school. I honestly don’t know where all this is taking me. I don’t have any solid plans for the “now what?” questions people ask me. And for once in my life, I’m okay with that because I’ve come to realize that nothing is set in stone, whether I diligently plan for it or not. So future Kristin, this is your chance to be as impulsive and adventurous as your heart desires. Don’t waste it; one day you’re going to have to start making plans again! So take this time and just run with it. I know you’ll find something great to do.
One of the first things my change in major affected was my class schedule. Because I was a year behind, I had to take both freshman and sophomore level science classes, which put me in the lectures and labs of chemistry, biology, and anatomy all at once. While I reveled in the new challenges presented to me by this difficult course load, the stress of three science classes worth of work quickly began to weigh on me. Throughout the year it caused me lose several hours of sleep, my overall GPA suffered, and it wasn’t too uncommon for me to completely breakdown, including in the middle of class. Despite all of this, I still discovered something extremely important about myself: by the end of the second semester, I was beginning to learn how to accept my failures without allowing them to negatively affect my self-esteem or perseverance. It was a lesson I was long overdue for, ever since my senior year of high school had been so academically disappointing. It’s been a difficult lesson to swallow, and I still haven’t fully digested it yet, but it has already made my college career seem a great deal less daunting.
The second largest change in my life that stemmed from my new major was my acceptance of a laboratory assistant position in the Department of Cancer Biology on UC’s medical campus. I was miserable at my old job, despite the excellent monetary payoff. This led me to search for something different, and I stumbled upon one of the best things that has happened to me this year: an opportunity to be a part of the Plas Lab. My major change and my multitude of science classes gave me the courage to apply, and my decision that my happiness and aspirations to help people should always come before a desire to make more money gave me the courage to accept the job offer when it finally came. And I couldn’t be happier that I did. I’ve learned so much working there over the school year, and they were generous enough to offer me a full time position for over the summer. Even though I won’t be continuing with research after I graduate (that’s the plan, but we all know how things like that usually go!), working at the Plas Lab has given me extraordinary experiences and skill sets that I can’t wait to apply in my future endeavors.
While the correlations between my change in major and the friendships I have lost and formed this year may seem week, my suddenly busier schedule greatly decreased the times I had the time or actually wanted to work on my relationships with people. This led me realizing who was truly important in my life, so I worked hard on those relationships. Not only that, but random lapses in schoolwork allowed me to form new friendships completely by chance. In fact, one instance of this led me to meeting my new favorite person in the entire world. He motivates me to be the absolute best I can be, and, quite honestly, helped me pull through the spring semester more than he realizes. He has become completely integrated into my life, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. If I hadn’t changed my major, I may have never met him, or I may have met him at a time where we couldn’t become as close as we are now. I can’t imagine never having the opportunity to get to know him and be inspired by him, and I know I will never regret doing so.
So many things have happened this past year: I bought a dog, but had to leave her behind in Missouri. I felt completely defeated by my abilities as an equestrian, then found myself improving to the point where I finally moved up into a jumping level. Friendships dissolved, but were replaced by people so amazing I sometimes think I’ve imagined them all (lucky for me that I always remember how uncreative I am). My GPA decreased, and while I am still disappointed in that, I can appreciate how hard I did work for the grades I earned. I accidentally ran a Tough Mudder and somehow kept up with my teammates. I traveled Ireland for two weeks with just my sister, which was my first time in Europe, and it was indescribable. And now I’m in Cincinnati for the summer working a full time job that is exactly what I used to describe as my “dream job” when I was in high school. I honestly don’t know where all this is taking me. I don’t have any solid plans for the “now what?” questions people ask me. And for once in my life, I’m okay with that because I’ve come to realize that nothing is set in stone, whether I diligently plan for it or not. So future Kristin, this is your chance to be as impulsive and adventurous as your heart desires. Don’t waste it; one day you’re going to have to start making plans again! So take this time and just run with it. I know you’ll find something great to do.