New beginnings! by Abigail Yost

Hey all! My name is Abigail, but you can call me Abbie. I’m a junior at William Tennent High School, and I love music and science. I’ve been playing the cello for many years and have been interested in the biological sciences ever since I had my first 9th grade biology class. I like reading (when I have the time!) and binging my favorite TV shows on Netflix. TRIP has already exposed me to so many new things and it’s only been 2 weeks!

Don’t get me wrong, when I was accepted into TRIP, I was so excited. However, I was also a little terrified… okay, maybe a lot? I had absolutely no idea how I would conduct my own independent project, but I wanted to try it out and give it a go. Let me tell you, I’ve already experienced most of what I was warned of in the interview: challenges, failure, and frustration. However, Dr. Purdy has been so encouraging and has been extremely helpful towards me. Through all of this, I’ve loved every second of the work I’ve been doing.
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I am currently studying the effect of Black Cohosh, a plant that treats menopause, on female fly fertility. In the upcoming week, I’ll be examining what the effect of head trauma does to these flies as well. Crazy, right? Yeah, you’re telling me. I can’t wait to take it on, though. So far, TRIP has been awesome, and a real trip! Get it? All right, I’ll stop. Anyways, I’m so thankful for this wonderful opportunity and I can’t wait to see what else is in store!