An August 2024 graduate of Juniata College with a B.S. in Biology, I am currently taking a gap year before pursuing a Ph.D. in Biology. I am working as a School-Age After-School Counselor at the Madison Area YMCA in Madison, NJ while I apply to graduate schools. My extensive research experience throughout my undergraduate career solidified my desire to pursue a Ph.D. to foster a career in research. From my student-faculty partnership and research internships, I learned how to design, carry out, and present independent research projects. I developed the lab skills of fluorescence microscopy, PCR, plasmid construction and transformation, thin-layer chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, bacterial and fungal cell culture, and other techniques. During my senior year at Juniata College, I wrote and presented a thesis on my two-year long student-faculty research partnership which taught me the skills of scientific literature review and scientific writing. I am well-adept at using Microsoft applications, and am also comfortable conducting statistical tests using the software R Commander.