One of the most important parts of this fellowship is creating a product that transfers my Biogen internship experience into a resource for my classroom, school, and community. I have working at the Biogen internship for 2 weeks now, and I can tell you that I have the most wonderful feelings about the experience, but every light has a dark.
The hardest part so far to this experience has been getting guidance from my county on what direction they would like us to move in for our product. I am lucky enough to be part of a cluster of fellows, and as a team, we are so ready to be able to do our job and make sure we turn in a product for DPS that we are proud of…the only issue is…I don’t always know if our DPS director is aware of what we are doing for this Kenan Fellowship. If I was just working independently, I wouldn’t fret too much about, but considering we have to turn in 1 product for the whole group, it adds an element of confusion if we do not have any sort of guidance. Luckily, Mark has been the shining star and he has been extremely supportive in making sure we get brainstorming done and that we are communicating with our leaders on why some sort of framework is important.
I saved the positives for last, because who wants to end on the bad! I have ABSOLUTELY LOVED every second of working with Biogen. Everyone that we have met or talked to has been so nice and I love the energy we get from them when we talk to them about what we are doing for the Kenan Fellowship. I love that they are all so ready to help us build this pipeline of students to the life sciences, and I know that they are valuing our time with them. Its really encouraging to be surrounded by a group of professionals that understand the importance of your work, and I love to be able to see the future of their neurological research that they are working on.
I am also really enjoying my time with the students in the community labs through Biogen. I am getting the privilege to sit back and watch these young minds work through virtual labs, observe amazing individuals within the science world, and collaborate in making science posters!