It's All About Your Passion

I'm inspired to write about PASSION.  I'm inspired to write about passion for our "new" scholars who really aren't so "new" anymore as they get ready to present their research at tomorrow's symposium.  I'm inspired to write about passion for our "older" scholars, some of whom are getting ready to graduate and start their graduate career.  Others are continuing their undergraduate work and seizing new and amazing opportunities - like doing more research at other institutions and even countries!

It's all about the passion baby!  Right?  Several of our scholars recently presented at Dr. Hernandez's College 101 program for at-risk high school students and talked about "finding your passion."  Dr Hinck and I spoke about how the best research presentations come from scholars who allow their passion to come through to the audience.  I can tell you for a fact that our scholars who are starting their graduate programs next fall are passionate about taking this next step in their journey.  They wouldn't have received such spectacular funding offers if they weren't!

You can't fake passion, nor can you just make it appear out of thin air.  You can tell when someone really has passion, can't you?  I believe it's combination of opening yourself to possibilities and opportunities, while being true to yourself.  You'll feel it when you have it!  Read Freddy's post (One Day at a Time) on his first year in grad school at IU and he talks about his passion and already starting to feel like a "real" scientist....

McNair gives you the chance to experience research.  Asking questions and finding the answers can be exhilarating, for sure.  Sure, along with the exciting part comes the hard work which can sometimes be pretty mundane, cumbersome and even frustrating.  That's where the passion comes in!  It's the passion that carries you through...and allows you to "pop out" the other end....when it comes time to present your work in front of a group of people and express the importance of your findings....when it comes time to tell a graduate admissions committee what you are going to do with your Ph.D. in "fill in the blank" and why there is no other better choice for you.

So, here's to YOUR passion!  To finding it.  To nurturing it.  To sustaining it on ALL levels.  Now that's the best!

One Day at a Time

Freddy Lee is a CMU McNair Scholar Alumni who graduated May 2011 and started his Ph.D. program in Microbiology at Indiana University this past fall.  He received the McNair Fellowship which totally covers his graduate education.  Freddy wrote to me not too long ago and told me that I could share this with you!  Here are some *nuggets of wisdom* especially for those of you getting ready to begin your own graduate career.  :-)  We miss you, Freddy!

Freddy presenting his research in Lansing at Posters on the Hill
Photo compliments of Robert Barclay

The "skinny" on my first year at IU thus far....so, the first semester was by far the hardest yet with the course load, amount of reading, lab rotations, and just getting adjusted to graduate school/life. I would say it took me a solid month and half to deal with the stress level. Here are a few "Aha! moments" (as Oprah would say) that helped me deal with grad school a little better.

1. Realizing I don't/won't know everything about science...and that's okay. This is the reason I'm in grad school, to build a more in-depth knowledge of science.
2. Figuring out the expectation for grad school
3. Making sure to schedule "me" time (tennis, going out with friends ect.). It's very easy to forget about yourself when you have a to-do-list 50ft. long.
4. And as always, Approach the to-do-list (assignments, presentations, reading etc. I'm nearly a master at this thought process, but I still catch myself thinking too far ahead, and have to refocus myself to the task(s) at hand.

This current semester is much easier than the previous, I'm sure becoming adjusted to grad school plays a major role. Currently, I'm taking 12 credits (4 courses and research). At the beginning of this semester, I chose a permanent lab to join and I'm working on examining the microbial community in the Honey Bee stomach, and trying to determine the role the microbes play on the overall health of the bee. I absolutely love my lab! I definitely feel I made the right choice with concern to my research interest and lab comfort. Thus far in my graduate experience, I have learned so much about research in biology, and can feel myself slowly evolving into a scientist...it's pretty exciting.

So things are going well!  And, I'm taking it one day at a time.

Island Time

Hello all, Lynn asked that I post this affirmation. As we rush into finals and to the pseudo-freedom that awaits us in summer, I often find myself wondering about why we do things the way we do and why we rush everything we do. This of course got me thinking about other cultures and how they differ from our own. I have found that these affirmations are a good place to take note of how we currently view our lives against the backdrop of the world, our futures, and our current states of mind. So, per Lynn’s request here is my most recent affirmation. --Justin C.

Island Time
As I prepared for my trip to the Marquesas I was bombarded with references to “Island Time.” People spoke as if the flow of time was actually slowed by the remoteness of the islands. Now that I am here I get their meaning. This would be an interesting topic for a cultural anthropologist to study, had they the endurance to drift back and forth between cultures. Is it the longer days that make people move without any sense of urgency? Is it the rhythm of the ocean that guides their pace? Who knows? All I know is that adjusting back to American life is going to be painful. Sure we awake at dawn here on the island, but somehow it is easy to rise with the sound of roosters and waves to greet you. I dread the sound of my alarm clock calling me to a fast paced college life. I love college but I think the musician Jack Johnson got it right in his song “Breakdown.” I think Americans could stand to slow down and appreciate the world a bit more. I will never understand why we all wish to rush through life and only relax in our retirement years. I am reminded of the saying “Youth is wasted on the young.” Perhaps if we all learned to enjoy each day by following the rhythms of Island Time we would not have to wait until we are old to truly appreciate life.