these days...

When I left Penn State a few months ago, I never imagined that I would be considering going back to school so soon, but I am. Right now, I’m working in a cancer lab at the University of Pittsburgh, screening extracts from marine sources (such as sponges, coral, etc) to determine if they are anti-oncogenic. I’ve been working out a lot of bugs lately, but I think it will be really interesting once the project is in full swing.

I always dreamt of being a doctor when I was younger, but realized that this wasn’t really the path for me. It’s hard for me to remain emotionally separated from someone who is suffering, so medicine would be a real struggle for me. In college, I was involved with THON, which is a 48 hour dance marathon to raise money for kids with cancer. THON was one of the most amazing experiences in my life and it really sparked the desire to be involved in the effort to find a cure for cancer.

What I didn’t anticipate was that working for a university allows me to take classes virtually free. I’m thinking about getting a degree in teaching or business, as I have decided that I’m not interested in pursuing a PhD program (because I’d like to get married and have a family) and getting a Masters in science will not be really valuable to me in the future.

I’m also thinking about applying for jobs at Fox Chase (near Philly) after a few years at the University. At this point, I feel like getting more education could be a tremendous asset some time in the future (and I really don’t have much to lose). It’s just a matter of figuring out what to study.

This is just something that’s been on my mind. If you have any insight on teaching/business, I’d love to hear it.