Let’s Take a TRIP! by Rhianna Zhang

Hi everyone! My name is Rhianna Zhang, and I am more than excited to embark on this TRIP! I’m currently a junior at Council Rock High School North in Newtown, PA. TRIP felt like the perfect fit for me because it grants me the freedom to create my own experiment on a topic that I’m curious about, while providing me with much-needed mentorship and resources along the way. Additionally, I have always wanted to pursue a career in STEM, and TRIP is a fantastic opportunity to connect me with like-minded peers!

​Here’s a little bit about me. Outside of school, one of my favorite ways to spend my free time is playing video games with my friends– right now, our current obsession is Minecraft. Additionally, I love listening to music when doing anything and everything! Some of my favorite artists at the time are Cocteau Twins, Lana Del Rey, Wave to Earth, and my top artist of 2024 was Kendrick Lamar. I’m also a huge foodie and love eating at new restaurants (especially the ones trending on social media), and I have a terrible sweet tooth, which is one of the reasons why I chose my kickoff experiment, “How do Ginkgo Biloba and a high-sugar diet affect fly motility?” I’m so excited to see how this experiment will turn out!

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​At Council Rock North, I’m a captain of the Speech and Debate team, an activity that has turned me into both a leader and a public speaker, empowering me to mentor and make connections with my peers. I also cheer for my school’s competitive cheerleading team, a sport that is both challenging and enriching. I’m also involved in my school’s Student Government and Model UN and created a few STEM affinity clubs on my own that I am heavily dedicated to. These clubs center around creating a space for students to explore topics that are rarely addressed in my school’s standard curriculum and pre-existing extracurriculars. For example, I offer mentorship for programmers of all levels at the Computer Science club, be it designing a C# and Python curriculum for beginners or guiding upperclassmen through coding a neural network.

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The first day of TRIP was equal parts fun and informative! Our icebreaker activity was not only helpful for learning my peer’s names but rewarding as well— I won a five-dollar Wawa gift card!  We also learned about and practiced using micropipettes, but my highlight of the day was taking fun group photos, where our TA’s shepherded us around the school and into different poses. We ended the day by performing some calculations and making fly food, and I took home my very own vial of flies to observe, which I will do so diligently. I cannot wait to see what my future will be like as I take this TRIP!

​TRIP felt like the perfect fit for me because it grants me the freedom to create my own experiment on a topic that I’m curious about, while providing me with much-needed mentorship and resources along the way.