It’s Nice to Meet You! by Rachel Simankin

A positive that came from this pandemic is that it gives us all an opportunity to grow our interests together, even if it’s just hobbies.

Hello everyone!!! My name is Rachel Simankin, and I am currently a senior at William Tennent High School. I grew up in Philadelphia but moved to the Bucks County area during the start of my sophomore year in high school. The main reason I wanted to be a part of the TRIP Initiative is that it's one of my goals to become a medical researcher and I really wanted to find a way to expose myself to hands-on research and explore this area of science. I've tried a variety of science classes to see what I am the most interested in including psychology, biology, chemistry, forensics, and neuropsychology, which is what I’m currently taking. So far my main interests lie somewhere in the field of biology and molecular biology, studying the effects certain diseases have on the body. This interest might change, but so far, this program has been a great experience for what being in the scientific field is like, and I get to work with and be a part of an amazing community of people.

Some of the things that I love to do in my free time are art and binge-watching either T.V. shows or movies. I mainly do a lot of digital art because it doesn't require me to go out and get a ton of supplies, but I have experimented with many different mediums, such as paint, markers, pencils, and charcoal. A majority of my art is made up of figure drawings done with pencils, but any form of creation is exciting and I’m always looking forward to my next project. When it comes to T.V., I am not picky about the types of shows or movies I watch and some of my recent binges include “The Wilds” on amazon prime and “Attack on Titan,” though I’m always open to recommendations. Because a majority of my classes are online at the moment, I found that a great way to stay connected with people is to video call them as often as possible and play multiplayer games like Minecraft, among us, even games like battlefront or TF2. A positive that came from this pandemic is that it gives us all an opportunity to grow our interests together, even if it’s just hobbies.