I am a graduate of Kalamazoo College where I majored in Chemistry and minored in Psychology. I was a Heyl scholarship recipient, which is a full-ride scholarship awarded to 8-10 students each year who have graduated from Kalamazoo Public Schools and are majoring in hard math or science at Kalamazoo College or are pursuing the nursing program at Western Michigan University. I was a member of the swim team and women's soccer team while at Kalamazoo College. I currently work as a Research Technician at Van Andel Research Institute in Dr. Darren Moore's lab. This lab intends to create targeted therapies for inherited Parkinson's Disease. In this lab, I use cellular biological and biochemical techniques, such as western blotting, protein assays, PCR, and others. This position is helping me gain a multitude of skills within the lab, and helping me build my knowledge as I apply to graduate school for Fall of 2025.I have also had the opportunity to present my undergraduate research in a multitude of settings and institutes. My senior thesis looked into the effects of antimicrobial, amphipathic peptides on gram-positive, gram-negative, and human cell membranes. I conducted this research at Kalamazoo College through the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry with Dr. Regina Stevens-Truss. I wrote my senior thesis on this research and also presented it at a poster session at Kalamazoo College, a poster conference at the West Michigan Regional Undergraduate Science Research Conference at Van Andel Institute, and a presentation in front of faculty and students at Kalamazoo College. I also assisted in presenting my research, along with the past research conducted in the lab I was working in, at the Advances in Antibacterial Discovery symposium hosted by St. Jude's Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. My various experiences in life have helped me grow as a person and taught me a surplus of skills that I plan to use in my future position as a genetic counselor.