Husky 100 Portfolio
BIOC 405: READER/GRADER EDITION
Last year, on a whim, I decided to take the Intro to Biochemistry series. At the time, I was still considering attending medical school and figured these classes would prepare me for the MCAT and show class rigor in my applications. Little did I know that this series would alter my trajectory at UW. By far, this series was the most difficult out of any I have taken at UW, including the major-specific biochemistry series. The series was designed to be fast-paced and boasted a wide array of seemingly unrelated biochemical systems and metabolic pathways. The silver lining for me was that I thrived in the chaos. Even though sometimes it felt like the sheer amount of coursework was drowning me, I loved meticulously combing through the mass of information and relished the complexity. Finally, I finished the series and thought that would be the end of the story.
In the middle of the summer, I received and email from one of my former professors from biochemistry asking for any interested students to submit an application to be a reader/grader for the class. I immediately applied as the job would perfectly align with my two greatest interests, teaching and biochemistry, and soon received an interview for the position. Needless to say, I think the interview went well and I was offered the role of reader/grader.
From start to finish being a reader/grader was one of the best experiences at UW. A class as fast-paced as BIOC 405 required an attentive and hard-working group of reader/graders. The other reader/grader and I would spend hours every week making daily practice questions, fielding student emails, hosting office hours, and presenting review material in exam review sessions. My required tasks luckily aligned with my skill-set and the type of work I enjoyed doing. My cohort was filled with bright, wonderful students with big aspirations. I hope during my time as their reader/grader I was able to act as a reliable resource and helped them appreciate biochemistry even a little more. Even after the class ended, students from BIOC 405 will stop and say hi, and I always love catching up with them. Next year, assuming all goes according to plan, I will be a reader/grader again for BIOC 405. I can't wait to grow even more as a leader and teacher and make new memories with my students.
Below is a collage of some of the review and teaching materials I created for BIOC 405.
GREY MATTERS: PRODUCTION
Every single quarter at UW that I have attended in-person I have always opted to help produce articles with the RSO, Grey Matters. The production group of Grey Matters works to write, edit, design, and produce their own academic journal issue every single quarter. Besides graduate student reviews everything is run by undergraduate students like myself.
This quarter and the last, I had the privilege of being one of the core editors. My role involved leading a group composed of a writer, a few editors, and an artist through the process of creating a polished, academic article pertaining to neuroscience. Every week, our group would meet in-person or over zoom to discuss the articles progress, walk through edits, and complete writing workshops. Every quarter I receive a new article to lead the production of, and its always rewarding. The authors that largely write the article and initially propose the topic are always so creative in the topics they choose to research and dedicated to producing the best article possible. Never have I core edited an article that I didn't think had the potential to be entertaining, creative, and educational. I can't wait to continue to work with Grey Matters and produce even more issues.
I previously wrote about the article I wrote for Grey Matters in my Sophomore Year: Autumn 2021 portfolio section. At the time, my article had not been published, but had been finalized. Now, I can proudly say that I am officially published in Grey Matters: Issue 24. Check it out! The art and design skills of other production members are beautifully showcased in the article and I think the writing is some of my best thus far.
To the side are some photos from our weekly meetings that I used for social media.
