Out with the old, in with the new!

Wow!  With sorority life, working in Dr. Weil's lab, staying busy with extracurriculars, and of course, studying for classes, this semester flew by!  While many people were ready to bring on 2016 and forget the past, I first want to reflect on some amazing opportunities and memories 2015 gave me...

My sister Samm and I rang
in the New Year at The Ohio State
University.

First and foremost, 2015 literally brought me some of the best friendships of my life.  During my spring semester as a freshman, I began to get closer to girls in my sorority house.  I also had the great fortune of traveling the country throughout the year to see them.  This summer, I visited my sister Jess in Philadelphia- my first time anywhere remotely near the east coast!  For New Years, I took a trip to Columbus, OH to visit another sister, Samm, and I had a blast meeting her hometown friends and older sister.  Regarding sorority life, they always say, "from the outside looking in, you can never understand it.  And from the inside looking out, you can never explain it."  I fully believe this quote applies to my experience with my sorority sisters. It's hard to put into words what an amazing bond we share.  We've grown so close, and I'm so blessed to surround myself with individuals who are always there for me- both in good times and in bad.

Next, I was very excited to start working for a professor at Purdue!  This past fall, I started working for Dr. Cliff Weil, who also taught my genetics class.  I am very grateful for the opportunity to gain connections with other students and faculty in my department, as well as increasing my hands-on-experience and gaining a better understanding of plant genetics concepts.  I'm very much looking forward to going back to school so I can start working in the lab again.

My friends and I saw Passion Pit
live in Columbus, OH.

Throughout the school year, even though I was in Lafayette, I was still fortunate to keep in touch with friends from home.  My friends and I have a lot in common when it comes to our taste in music so we traveled a lot, attending many concerts- from St. Louis to Columbus, OH, to Chicago!

While my genetics lab and genetics lecture classes weren't the easiest, I feel so blessed in knowing how confident I am in my major.  In my genetics lab course, I was able to physically clone DNA and familiarize myself with processes used in genetics labs, like PCR.  It may not have been easy to learn at first, but in my genetics lecture course, I really enjoyed learning how to incorporate statistics into genetics problems, such as finding chi square values.  Genetics lab and genetics lecture not only increased my knowledge on the subject of genetics as a whole, but they increased my enthusiasm and appreciation for my field of study.

This is a view of Lake Barkley from
where we stayed. 

This winter break was a blast! I was so fortunate to visit my family in Kentucky, not once, but twice for Christmas festivities! We even started a new Christmas tradition.  From now on, each year, we hope to travel to a different part of the country for Christmas.  This year, we spent it at Kentucky Dam Village, but next year, we're thinking Gulf Shores, AL might be a possibility.




With such a great year behind me, I'm ready to have an even better 2016!  I'm looking forward to my classes this semester, and I cannot wait to see what opportunities the new year brings.