Once In A Lifetime by Anne Pallozzi

 Hello! My name is Anne Pallozzi and I’m 16 years old. I currently attend school at William Tennent High School, where I am a sophomore. I applied to TRIP this year not only because I’m very interested in science (specifically genetics), but also because I have a family connection to Fox Chase Cancer Center. My mother has been a patient there for years, and the doctors there helped to save my mother’s life when she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. I will forever be grateful for this because it both kept my mother here with me and sparked my interest in becoming a geneticist and working to help make lives better for thousands of people like my family. This is ultimately why I applied to TRIP; it will be an amazing learning experience and bring me one step closer to helping others.

When I’m not in school, I’m probably busy doing one of my countless other activities. Some of my favorites are being a class officer, spinning flags (and rifles!) in my school’s marching band, reading, working as the assistant to the director in my school’s musicals, and so much more. I am also the junior secretary for my school’s Science National Honor Society and a member of the Health Science Exploration Club at Tennent. In addition to all of that, I’ve also been playing the viola for about 8 years! 

I loved my first day in the lab and I can’t wait for next Saturday to come! My favorite thing we did was definitely when we learned how to use micropipettes. Holding such an integral, and also expensive, piece of science machinery made me feel like this is what I was meant to do. The micropipette fit perfectly into my hand and using it felt almost natural.

 Science is definitely going to be a part of my future!

 Science is definitely going to be a part of my future! Also deserving of mention is the vial of fruit flies now sitting on my dining room table. I think it’s totally awesome. My parents, not so much. I’m so excited to see where TRIP takes me in this once in a lifetime opportunity!