It started when I was a kid of about seven and my aunt gave me a microscope. I have always been interested in science, especially the science of life, and my aunt fostered that interest and always supported it. I don't remember much about my first microscope, except that I didn't know a good deal about how to use it and I ended up breaking at least three or four slides.
Flash to about seven years later, and I had my first true lab experiences in 8th grade science. That was a mixed science class, and the experiments were all very simple - dissecting a frog, taking apart an owl pellet, learning how to use a microscope. I knew I was hooked.
In high school, I had the fortune of being part of the entering class that enjoyed an entirely new school with - yup - brand new labs. All my science courses had laboratory portions, as rare as some might be. In physics, I shot off an air-pumped rocket, in forensics, I analyzed fingerprints, in biology, I traced through the cell cycle, and my favorite, anatomy, we dissected pigs, sheep brains, and minks.
This had been coming for as long as I remember; college had never been a question for me, nor had I ever been in doubt about what I wanted to do - I wanted to major in Biology, and I wanted to become a doctor.
After actually getting to college, I changed my major to a slightly different degree plan, Clinical Laboratory Science - one where I'd take pretty much all the same support classes as a biology major, except instead of a bunch of upper division biology courses during my last two years, I'd be taking intensive laboratory-oriented courses at the local medical professions university (which also houses a medical school!) which would prepare me to sit for the Clinical Lab Scientist licensing exam; once completed, I would become a Clinical Laboratory Technologist/Scientist.
This also ensured that I would be a lab rat, if not for life, for the majority of it.
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| Me, in my other hat. |
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