Fly With A Blog by Endy Ascencio-Miranda

Hey Everyone! My name is Endy Ascencio-Miranda. I am a senior at William Tennent High School. Welcome to my introduction to this whole TRIP experience. I hope you’ll enjoy the insights I share throughout my time here. Continuing more about myself. I hope to pursue a Biomedical Engineering, or Neuroscience Major with a possibility of a Philosophy minor.I plan to be a part of Alzehiemer’s research, along with other Neurodegenerative diseases. Which is mainly why I have decided to apply to TRIP, hoping I’ll gain valuable connections and skills in research while creating my own experiment to further my understanding of Alzheimer’s.  As you can tell, STEM is a huge part of me. I’m a huge nerd when it comes to math and science, so I am beyond excited to see what else TRIP has in store for me.

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Beyond science my hobbies include playing video games, working out, cooking, and creating art. Currently I have been playing many hours of God of War: Ragnarok in my free time, along with preparing for the Spring Track season on my own before Tennent officially starts. I participate on the Throw team with my main discipline being Shot put. Other than Track, at Tennent I am a part of Mu Alpha Theta, and the Science National Honor Society.

My first day of TRIP was a success. I never knew how much I would gain in the span of 4 hours. It started out with being introduced to the instructors and TA’s who I hope to grow an even greater relationship with. Along with a silly icebreaker, which in the standards of icebreakers wasn’t terrible. After that the real lab techniques came into instruction with the introduction of the micropipette. It was a good review since it has been a while since I have used one. Later I would be struggling with solutions and dilutions which is totally okay since I was able to work things out with Dr. Purdy  and learn from my mistakes. Finally I would make my own assay with the experimental question of “How do St. John’s wort and disrupted circadian rhythms affect mood?” where I applied what I have learned in the instruction with the solution and dilution math, along with micropipette techniques into fostering my first run through experiment. I am beyond excited to see where this experiment will lead me and I hope to keep you guys posted!