Science in My Life

Science in My Life

My interest in science began many years ago, long before entering SUU. It began back in elementary when I was assigned to do a science project about the planet Mars. A couple of other students and I chose to argue that there was once life on Mars, while most of other students chose to argue against us. I don't remember much about the project itself, but I do remember doing research with my mom at the Salt Lake Public Library. The thing that really sparked my interest was the feeling I got when I finally found some information that supported life on Mars after hours of searching through books. I remember that day in the library being so excited to finally find results that supported my hypothesis, to finally find answers to my questions. And it was that aspect of science that really triggered an interest.  Entering SUU however, I decided to major in something related to math, which I discovered to have a natural talent at. Although science was interesting to me, I figured I would enter a field that I was good at and that I knew I could excel  without putting forth too much effort, lazy, I know. That same fall semester of my freshman year I had injured my knee during fall football camp. It was when I had daily visits with Dr. Newman in the athletic training room when I realized that I was in the wrong field of study. My interest in science was again rekindled and the very next semester I switched majors and the rest is history.

Once I was in the biology program, I quickly found out that the information in Dr. Govedich’s Biology class did not come as quickly as math did to me. I had to study extra hard, harder than others, and only because it took me a while for information to sink in. I struggled. It wasn't till after I received feedback for my first research paper when I realized I was approaching it all wrong. I wasn’t thinking like how I should have been, like a scientist. It took a few more research papers to finally understand what it takes to work and think like a scientist, an under-grad scientist that is.  I have learned it is good to have questions, to question everything I do and everything around me, including if there was once life on Mars.  It are those questions that trigger learning and spark ideas for research. It is based on these types of questions that led to all the scientific information we have today. Another thing I have learned is that it takes a little bit of creativity to be a scientist. Kind of like creative art, if you add different colors to things that aren’t normally those colors, it may or may not work. I like to think of Watson and Crick. I’m sure it took some creativity and a lot of trial and error to finally come up with the double helix structure of DNA we know of now. Sometimes you have to look outside the box, use a different angle to analyze different phenomena we observe. This will help us have a more versatile understanding of things rather than one dimensional. Kind of like something simple like breathing. It is more than just getting oxygen to the body, it is also for cellular waste, pH regulation, and so much more. And one of the biggest things I’ve learned on how a scientist thinks is that all the research we do is for the good of something else. All the research articles I have read and used in papers had some kind of purpose or reason to why the results are significant. It was always to better understand this process or that mechanism which allows us to use that information for our benefit. For example, one of the biggest ones out there today is cancer research. The purpose is to hopefully find a cure, thus saving millions of lives.

I am currently a registered nurse in the Intensive Care Unit here at the Cedar City Hospital. After I graduate in May, I plan on attending CRNA school to become a nurse anesthetist. I think everything in the medical field is based on a science. One thing I’ve learned while working in the hospital is that the aim is for patient outcomes and satisfaction. The only way we can know what works and what doesn’t is to test it out. Everything we do or don’t do anymore is because of science. I am grateful for it because it gives me a job and my patients a chance at a better quality of life. Although science is always improving the medical field, there is one down side to its ever changing nature that happened to me. The very next month after I graduated nursing school I tried to take my books in for some extra money. But guess what happened, they were already out of date! Thanks a lot science, now I am hundreds of dollars poorer and I have a stack of useless nursing books at my house.