Winter 2019
This quarter was by far the strangest I’ve had so far at the UW. We had like 5 snow days in addition to all the holidays that we usually get off school during winter quarter, so we ended up missing out on practically a week and a half of classes. I only really took two classes this quarter—PSYCH 355, cognitive psychology, and PSYCH 426, neurobiology of learning and memory. In addition to these two classes, I was involved in the departmental honors seminar on Monday nights and TAed two classes for Lauren Graham, PSYCH 202 and PSYCH 222. On top of my course load, I continued working at the ArtsUW ticket office on campus, driving for a family, and being a CLUE tutor. I also started my position as the Vice President of Member Development within Pi Phi. Finally, I was chosen to be a Peer Educator for Honors 100 next fall, so I will get to start training for that position next quarter!
Of all the classes I’ve taken at UW so far, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory was definitely the hardest. I struggled to grasp the concepts that were described in lecture, and I constantly felt like I was one step behind the rest of the class. I ended up taking the class on a satisfactory/not satisfactory grading system because I wasn’t sure how well I would perform on the tests. In the end, though, I actually did quite well on most of the tests and the one presentation. I’m most proud of my work in this class, because even though it was incredibly hard for me I really put in the time and effort to succeed. I am also extremely proud that even after choosing a more lenient grading system I didn’t stop working hard to learn the material. I am most disappointed, however, in the final paper that I turned in for this class. I know that I am capable of better writing, but my schedule got the best of me and I pretty much wrote this entire paper right before turning it in. At the end of the day this class was an excellent learning opportunity for me, because it showed me that even when I think I can’t master the material in a certain class if I put in the time and effort, the knowledge will come with it. I can get very anxious about school, and especially grades, when I don’t think that I am understanding the material as fully as I should be, but this class was just what I needed to show me that I consistently underestimate myself when I am in fact capable of a lot.
Cognitive psychology, on the other hand, felt like I had really hit my stride. I took the class with Dr. Andrea Stocco, who is an absolute gem of a professor, and just overall amazing person, which I’m sure made the class 1000 times better. But the content is also inherently interesting, so it was the best of both worlds. I have already contacted him about being a peer facilitator (equivalent of an undergraduate TA) when he teaches the course in the fall, and he seems excited about it! I’m very much looking forward to spending more time with him and also becoming more knowledgeable about cognitive psychology.
I’ve made a good amount of progress on my thesis for the departmental honors program this quarter. I spent between six and nine hours in the lab each week running participants in the EEG, and also met with my advisor Margarita about once a week. I have begun to research for my literature review and have also started writing the first few pages of my research proposal, which is due at the end of spring quarter. Learning to run participants in the EEG has definitely pushed me to develop my self-confidence, because I tend to shy away from activities if I feel like they don’t play to my strengths, but using the EEG was something I didn’t feel at all comfortable doing at the start of the quarter, and after enough practice and Margarita’s encouragement, I ended the quarter with the ability to run participants without any supervision. The thought of finishing the rest of my thesis project is incredibly daunting, but I’m sure that I’ll get through it. I just need to take it one step at a time until everything is done!
Here I am at College Weekend in St. Louis! Everyone I'm with here was a Pi Phi with me at NYU, and it was so fun to catch up with all of them. College weekend was definitely very valuable for me in training to be a sorority leader, and I can take the skills I learned here to all of my future jobs.
Taking over the position of VPMD for Pi Phi has been stressful, but also a dream come true. I always imagined acting as VPMD since I pledged Pi Phi my freshman year, and now it’s finally happened. There’s definitely a lot more administrative work than I expected, but it’s also given me a chance to implement programs and activities within the house that I think are really benefitting our members. For example, I have implemented A’s raffle, where girls who get an A on an assignment work 15% or more of their grade are given raffle tickets to enter for prizes of their choice. This program, along with others, have been helping motivate girls and reward them for more than just a good GPA, but also their hard work throughout the entirety of the quarter, and people have been really liking them! It’s been very rewarding to see that what I do can actually have an effect in the lives of the girls, and benefit our chapter as a whole. More broadly, I’ve been planning a lot of activities for us to do with other chapters on campus, because I noticed a deficit in a sense of community among the sororities, and this idea actually caught on with Panhellenic, who are now working with me to develop more community-based activities. As part of my training as a new exec member, Pi Phi paid for me to travel with a few of my sisters to St. Louis in January for a conference with members of every Pi Phi chapter in the world. This was such an amazing opportunity to really develop my skills not just within Pi Phi, but also as a leader, and I also got to catch up with friends from NYU andfrom high school! It was overall an amazing weekend, but very tiring!
Moving forward, I plan to finish the psychology major at the end of spring quarter 2019, and then I will spend my senior year finishing the departmental honors program, Interdisciplinary Honors program, and finishing an education minor. I have a new interest in higher education administration, as well as education, since taking over as VPMD, and I would like to develop this passion by getting a minor. After this year, I will have to start applying to graduate programs, and I’m pretty sure that I would like to pursue administration (instead of neuroscience, as I had previously expected), but anything could change! Next quarter I will also start getting ready to go abroad with the Interdisciplinary Honors Program at the start of the summer, which I’m very excited for! I think spring quarter will probably be my busiest quarter yet, but also probably the most rewarding.
This button takes you to a document with my final paper from Psych 426 (the neurobiology of learning and memory). This class was extremely hard for me, and I even ended up taking it pass/fail--a first for me (admittedly I was being a little dramatic to switch the grading scale. I would have done fine even if it was decimal graded, but too late now). My final paper was full of mixed emotions for me, because I didn't feel like it was necessarily my best work, but it also capped off what was probably the most difficult class I'd ever taken at UW, and I was pretty proud to be finishing strong. In the end, this was the class that actually taught me the most information, and I'm so glad I took it.