Bryan May

Dr. Jonathan Karpel

BIOL 4500

Paper 3

When I first started at Southern Utah University, I had a very skewed perception of reality. In high school the teachers basically spoon feed students information and I was ready to have some more of that. Throughout high school I rarely did research on my own and took home homework maybe once per month. Obviously there was a steep learning curve once I got to SUU. Other than those obvious changes, there are some character traits, values, and ways of thinking that have been influenced by my peers, teachers, and need to gain knowledge that I hope to successfully portray in this paper.

My original desire to come to SUU revolved around my one goal to get into med school. The school has a reputation of acceptance and I wanted to connect myself with a school that gets people in. That was my first mistake. The reason people get accepted is that SUU provides an environment where we can learn as much as we want to. We can get involved with the teachers who remember our names and can have personal conversations with us around town and who want us to take big roles in their research. On the other hand, the teachers let us take responsibility and expect us to ask them questions if we want help finding the answers. Now I love that, but at first I really didn’t appreciate putting forth that much effort to find an answer. I think as far as medical schools go, they like that we can have those personal relationships with our professors because it drives us to achieve high test scores, participate in amazing research and be involved in the community.

The longer I have been here, the more my original desire has changed. There is a difference between what takes you somewhere and what keeps you somewhere. While my originally encouraged me to come to SUU was getting accepted into medical school, what has kept me here are the other things I’ve gained from the school. Throughout my time at SUU I’ve gotten to know several teachers extremely well. From taking classes from them and helping them with different classes, I have learned that professors have real lives outside of the classroom. It’s interesting to see them outside of the classroom with their kids, or at the grocery store buying junk food. While the professors here are normal people, the difference between a professor and any other person is their love of knowledge and natural curiosity about the world. Most people can’t wait to get out of school so they can do what they want, but a scientist wants to discover something new about the world and make a lasting difference. Who else can isolate a certain gene and implant it in a new organism, or go hiking to explore the human impact on an environment just to name a few research projects on campus. That attitude is contagious and is something that SUU has really been able to deliver because of the personal nature of the faculty on campus.

Other than the things that make me want to be here, there is more that has really helped me while at SUU that wasn’t fun, but was essential to becoming a contributing member of society. Thinking back to high school, because of the way teachers presented information, it appeared as if most things were known that we talked about. I’m sure it was said that science was adding to itself, and if I would have thought about the fact that there were still scientists alive today, I should have gathered that there is still much to be discovered. It wasn’t until I came to SUU and found the vast number of research projects. As I looked into different research, I learned it wasn’t all extremely complicated or groundbreaking but it was instead fairly fundamental research. From this I learned two different things, the first is that we definitely do not know everything. Scientist learn new things every day. Every major university will have the same amount and usually more research going on. The second is to be skeptical of those things I think I know everything about because a small aspect of it that may not be known or even questioned may have a large impact on the entire process in question. An example of this comes from the astronomy class I am currently taking. Recently we have been talking about dark matter and dark energy. Studies on gravity in relation to galaxies show that either our understanding of gravity is wrong on a large scale, or about 95% of the mass in the universe is unseen and far from the center of the galaxy. Again, I give this example to demonstrate how much we don’t know. 95% of the mass in the universe is an astounding figure. Something is definitely off, but scientists just don’t know how to detect any of it. This shows that there is still much to be learned on a small and large scale and it is the fundamental research here in chemistry and physics that will spur ideas to find the answers to more question.

As I am preparing to leave this institution, I have thought of some of the things I want to take with me that I have gained here. The most basic thing is relationships. My peers all have a strong drive to succeed. They are hard workers, intelligent, and have high achievement standards. They are people that have helped me succeed in my own endeavors and I need to continue to stay in touch with them because it’s not always what you know, but who you know that can help you in the long run. Another thing I have gained are basic scientific skills. I know it is cliche, but the scientific method is a huge part of life. It teaches us the first step in getting answers is to ask a question. I plan on going into medicine. People will come with questions constantly, and my only hope of answering them is to use my skills I have gathered here to find the answers. Very rarely will I be performing experiments, so one of the biggest things I need to take away from SUU is an ability to research. Finding credible sources and being able to sort through them to find the information I need is crucial. Several things teach these skills. The Library Management class is all about finding credible sources, general biology also taught where to go especially to find scientific writing and this class has been helpful in expanding my research to different areas of study. This gives me confidence that no matter what question a patient may ask, I will be able to find the most current research on the topic to give an answer if there is one.

Another skill I have gained at SUU is how to learn. At the beginning I was trying so hard to learn every little thing and it made me miss the big picture ideas. The further along I have come the more I have seen ideas resurface from previous classes. When I finally grasped these basic concepts, my study became much more effective. I learned more quickly and even if I didn’t know anything about a new idea, I could use these principles to figure out the meaning of the new idea. I know that if I can retain these basic concepts then I will be a better physician, student, and teacher when I enter the workforce.

In conclusion, I have learned so much from my time here at SUU. I changed from someone who thought they knew everything to someone who knows how little I actually know but who has a strong desire to learn more. The world around us is exciting and keeping that excited attitude promotes new learning and encourages us to learn to the edge of our current understanding through effective research then find new and creative ways to discover more. I hope to never lose sight of those few critical concepts I have learned here and add more of them to my repertoire as I continue my schooling. I believe it is only in this way that I can meet the demands of the field I will hopefully enter soon. I am confident that my study of the life sciences here at SUU has helped prepare me for everything that is to come because of those simple attitudes, and attributes it espouses.