10/22 | Touring Ivy leagues + Meeting Laureates!
October Newsletter
Hey! Fancy seeing you here. My name is Lauren and I’m an 18y/o passionate about making the world neuroinclusive ♾️ 🧠 through the utilization of technology 💻. When I’m not reading scientific journals, you can find me outside running 🏃🏻♀️ or flipping 🤸🏻♀️ around (yes, I mean this literally!)
Before I get started, I wanted to share my new alter-ego newsletter…
🚨Shower Thoughts!🚨
After having countless late-night epiphanies, I thought it would be more than appropriate to create an alternative space to host my sometimes abnormal inquiries. Feel free to subscribe to the mailing list if this is something that interests you!
Alas, here’s the recap of this past October!
Ivy League Road Trip 🌿🚙
Once the festivities from thanksgiving slowed down, I proposed the idea of visiting some of my dream schools out here on the east coast to my parents. Luckily, after much deliberation and convincing, we (my mother and I) set off to the US.
1st Stop ➡️ University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA
I’ll be the first to admit that it felt somewhat surreal to walk around the same campus where Benjamin Franklin once stepped foot. To fast forward to the modern-day presidency; Joe Biden had actually just visited UPenn the week prior to us. The student newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvanian, even included a feature on him with pictures from his visit.
Unfortunately, it did not take long until my imposter syndrome kicked in. However, this soon subsided after I visited the undergraduate admissions visitor center up on Spruce Street. I met a current senior at Penn who answered my various questions. She told me that she’s majoring in psychology, so obviously, I had to ask if she took any courses taught by Angela Duckworth.
The architecture at Penn was breathtaking, to say the least. My favourite buildings included the Fisher Fine Arts Library and the interior of the undergraduate admission visitor center. Although, I would also like to give an honourable mention to the bookstore, what can I say I’m always a sucker for university merch!
Overall Rating = ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2nd stop ➡️ Cornell University in Ithaca, NY
Once we left UPenn, we ventured off to our next destination… Cornell University!
The drive was quite scenic on the way up despite the downpour of rain. I instantly felt at home in Ithaca. The small-town vibe was very relaxing; especially after 4 ½ hours of driving.
As I intended, we spent the next day touring the campus at Cornell. I adored the atmosphere and the scenery surrounding the buildings. It really felt as if I was transported into a university town! Being from the suburbs, I truly appreciated the comfort of the small-town essence.
My favourite building was Klarman Hall, the school’s college of arts and sciences. Surprisingly enough we were able to walk inside and visit the admissions office similarly to what we did at UPenn.
Overall Rating = ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Meeting Science Laureates @Gairdner Awards
I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone at The Knowledge Society and The Gairdner Awards for making this possible. I just cannot thank you all enough :)
On October 27th, 2022, I had the honour of attending three events apart of the Gairdner Science Week! In the morning, I got myself ready and headed out to the MaRS building on College Street (credit to the GOtrain + subway since I’m from the GTA). The selected Gairdner Laureates for this year included John E.Dick, Stuart H. Orkin, Pieter Cullis, Zulfiqar Bhutta, Drew Weissman, Deborah J.Cook and Katalin Karikó.
Gairdner Awards Gala ⬇️
I got to attend my first ever “black-tie” event at the Royal Ontario Museum. At first, I did apply for tickets to this separate event through TKS, although I was actually not selected to attend. To my surprise, TKS was able to score some more tickets which eventually led to me getting one.
During the opening remarks, they went around recognizing special attendees and past laureates by making them stand up for applause. To our surprise, they did the same for us (as in us I’m referring to all of the TKS students + alum that were at the event).
MY TAKEAWAYS
“If you don’t have a role model, become one” - Katalin Karikó
Science takes time!!
Many of the Gairdner Award recipients spent around 4-5 decades researching within their prospective field.
Not only is Dr. Stuart Orkin a pediatric hematology expert, but he also has impeccable music taste ⬇️
Looking Ahead 👀🔮
Continuing the College Application Grind
As the year comes to an end, I frantically am completing the rest of my applications for both US and Canadian schools. Look forward to a possible college decisions reaction video on my youtube channel.
Creating more BCI-related content!
As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, I have finally picked my desired field of emerging tech to “focus” on… Brain-Computer Interfaces! Stay tuned for loads of articles + projects incorporating the most important organ in the human body.
Goodbye, my loyal readers!
Thanks for following another rendition of “Inside Lauren’s Brain”!
In the meantime, feel free to check out my Twitter, Medium, LinkedIn and Youtube Channel (lots of content coming soon, I promise :)
Wanna get in touch? Send me an email at laurenapearsonn@gmail.com