My TRIP Has Just Begun by Shawnette James

​Hi everyone! My name is Shawnette James, and I am a recent graduate of Masterman High School, and I will be attending the University of Pittsburgh in the fall to major in Neuroscience. In school I participated in various clubs, such as the African American Cultural Committee, Girls Varsity Soccer, Step Club, Pep Squad, Yearbook Club, and Yoga Club. None of these clubs exactly align with one another, but that is because I focused more on my creative interests than my academic interests. I think I took the opportunity to explore my interests, but they are all activities I would like to be a part of while in college as well.

I wanted to participate in TRIP because I enjoy science, and I am interested in participating in undergraduate research in college. I knew that participating in this program would allow me to get a feel for both of these things. Although undergraduate research takes much longer, any sort of lab experience is good to have before you can start. I mainly enjoy science because it is a field that you can make discoveries in, whether big or small. I hope that participating in this program will give me the opportunity to discover new things that I never knew, and maybe something that no one else knew either.  ​

My first day at TRIP was interesting to say the very least. We were able to get right to using lab tools and skills to prepare food for our future fruit fly experiments, but were also given a vial of fruit flies to take home and observe. I think these two things were my favorite parts of the  first day because I really enjoy hands-on lab work, especially if it is contributing to a bigger idea or project, and making the fruit fly food helped me practice my skills with making solutions. I think that the fly vial we were given also fills my enjoyment of hands-on work because we have something that will soon be changing right in front of us to observe, and I’m excited to see what new changes I will find.