I told my mom I won’t TRIP from excitement! by Jenan Hazazi

Hello readers. I'm Jenan Hazazi, a Junior at William Tennent Highschool.

Ever since I was on all fours, I have been quite fascinated by the world surrounding me and all that it has to offer. I've always been quite open to trying new things and essentially becoming comfortable being uncomfortable. I’m always seeking to find ways to grow as an individual and meet new people. In doing so, I tend to engage in many clubs that not only feed my curiosity, but also help others, such as Robotics, MSA, National Science Honor Society, and Volunteering clubs including Key Club. I also enjoy traveling very much as I've been to about 12 different countries and dozens of new cities. I've lived in Saudi Arabia for about three years and spent the rest of my childhood in New Jersey. I moved to Pennsylvania at the beginning of 2021 and I love it here. Moving around and meeting new people is arguably why I have become such a language enthusiast with hopes of becoming a polyglot one day. I am currently fluent in two languages, English and Arabic, and learning my third, Spanish. ​

Throughout my years of dabbling in new things, I have found myself to be extremely drawn to art and the sciences. Art is more of a hobby of mine; it always helps me to tune in to my creative side which sometimes gets lost while taking challenges that come my way. Though I favor painting realism with oil paints and sketching still life with pens, I can use or learn to use any medium given to me.  Science on the other hand is more of a passion for me, something that I have always been sure that I will pursue in my lifetime as I genuinely can’t see myself doing anything else. People tend to say that learning is tedious and I disagree, telling them they must be learning something that doesn’t make their mind wander. That is what science does to me; keeping me forever wondering how things work, and continuously keeping me mesmerized and in awe of all that surrounds me. I’d hope to someday work in Emergency Medicine, but I would always consider any opportunities that I find or come my way, such as TRIP.

When this opportunity was brought up to me by my teacher Mr. Jayo, I knew I wanted to apply for a few different reasons. One of them was the chance to figure out if I wanted to do research in the future as the idea does intrigue me, which I give credit to my dad, a maxillofacial surgeon, who tells me stories of his time in the lab. At that time, he had lived in Guam and had a pet monkey named Alex. Maybe one day I’ll do research and have a pet monkey as well. Nevertheless, I also knew that there was much that I would take away from this program, both inside and outside the lab such as lab techniques, experimentation procedures, fine-tuning communication skills, and meeting new, like minded-people. ​

It had been my first day yesterday and to say I was so beyond excited is an understatement. I met some amazing people on just my first day as well as started to learn how to use a micropipette and set up an experiment by setting up the vials of food for the flies that I will use next time we join. I know I have much to learn, and alongside these brilliant fellow peers of mine, and especially under the wings of Dr. Leystra and Dr. Purdy, I can already tell this is the start of an amazing TRIP in my life!