Hometown: Puyallup, WA
What is something you wish everyone knew about your major? What advice do you have for incoming students? I double majored in physiology and chemistry (BA). I would like incoming students to know that it gets better. Prerequisites such as general biology and chemistry can be really tough because it is hard to see the relevance and importance of all the concepts that are being thrown at you. But as you take more classes and get deeper into the content, you’ll be able to fit the pieces together into a more cohesive whole and gain a greater appreciation of the world through it. You’ll begin to be amazed by things that you never really noticed in the past.
What was your most impactful class or professor? I really enjoyed organic chemistry and human physiology for very much the same reasons. First of all, both Dr. Bartlett and Dr. Wall-Scheffler are outstanding teachers and some of the kindest people I have ever met. Secondly, regarding both reagents and organ systems, it is incredibly satisfying to be able to take discrete pieces of information from lectures and apply them in novel ways to solve complex problems.
How have you grown during your time at SPU? I have gained a love of learning that I definitely did not have before. I’ve become more inquisitive and interested in understanding other perspectives. As a pre-med student, I originally was only interested in my STEM classes, but after taking an ethics class, I became more interested in philosophy and the humanities in general. So, I decided to minor in cultural anthropology and philosophy. Through those classes, I was able to stretch my mind in many ways and gained a deep respect for the diverse methodologies of different disciplines.