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Three students did more than just relax on their  

summer

  vacations: they took advantage of their time off by traveling or getting a little more acquainted with their fields of choice. Check what they did instead of just tanning by the beach.

About Me: Jonathan Ball, student at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine (North Grafton, MA), interned with Wildlife Trust and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game capturing Marbled Murrlets (MAMU) - small sea birds that live on the West Coast. The goal of the project was to capture 32 MAMU and attach a small radio transmitter just under the skin in order to track their movements for the rest of the summer.

"On Friday morning at 2 a.m, after working 18 hours a day for three days, we had captured 31 birds and were all pretty excited about reaching our goal so quickly. When the 32nd bird came on board, I started to prep the area for processing the bird as I had done 31 times before. This was when Dr. Scott Newman, the veterinarian in charge of the project, told me instead of assisting, this time I would perform the surgery.

The procedure itself is fairly straight-forward and I had watched it 31 times already, but I could still feel my heart rate double as Dr. Newman finished his sentence. While he and another student prepared the bird, I spent time running through the procedure in my head and trying to catch my breath. When everything was ready, I took a deep breath and began. Afterward, one of our crew came up to me and said they were impressed with how steady my hands were during the surgery. I almost laughed out loud because my heart had been pounding so hard the whole time, I was sure it had to be making my hands shake."

About Me: Pascha McAlister, student engineer at California Maritime Academy (Vallejo, CA), participated in a summer training cruise to the South Pacific.

"I was on the first watch [of the trip] and we lost a main engine. When that happens the room just gets really, really quiet, and you know something's wrong. I called the chief and assistant engineer and they did some troubleshooting. In this case, it was an electrical problem, so it was really simple for them to fix and they didn't need my help. But I can think of two instances where my crew and I were called back after dinner [to help with a problem] and worked from 8:30 p.m. to 10 or 11 at night. That's sort of the trap of being on a ship - you can't say 'Oh, I can't get there.'"

About Me: Stephanie Palladino, junior chemistry major and math minor at the University of Texas (Austin, TX), and counselor at GirlStart, an organization that strives to empower young girls in the fields of math, science, engineering, and technology.

"Every Monday started with me and Natalie, my co-counselor, loudly playing pop music on the stereo and enthusiastically welcoming a new group of 26 girls to GirlStart camp. I'm sure most of the girls thought we were slightly crazy because of our energy level and enthusiasm, but by the end of the week, they too would have the same energy during our lessons and activities.

Sometimes the lessons were not necessarily about math and science - they just needed to know their opinions matter, that they're important and interesting, that someone cares what they think. Sometimes the girls just needed a friend; sometimes all they were looking for was someone older to talk to and treat them like equals. Working with the girls this summer allowed me to find a part of myself that, with the responsibilities of being a college student, I had lost. They let me see that life isn't as serious and difficult as adults tend to make it."


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Amanda Fornecker is a staff writer at The CollegeBound Network. Learn more about finding a school that's right for you.

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