STEM Education Anonymous

“It focuses 201 precise beams of radiation directly on the tumor. Scary isn’t it?” As I deliver my prepared presentation about the Gamma Knife during the TSA National Conference, I can't help but wonder if I have really done justice to the power and complexity of this innovation. The Technology Student Association has fueled my interest in engineering and research; from Biotechnology Design to VEX Robotics, TSA provided me with many opportunities to explore STEM based activities. For three years, I have helped design organic batteries, modeled new inventions, and created robots. From these unique experiences, I have fostered my interest in technology based careers. Notably, TSA has encouraged an ideology of engineering that has completely changed the way I think. I believe that engineering is about servant leadership, gracious professionalism, and failures that are not terminal but necessary to personal growth.

Cut to another scene. Pyrosequencing the different patient samples, my dad and I take a lunch break while the machine beeps and groans to its programmed instructions. By the end of my ten week internship, I had become familiar with the routines. Whether mixing electrophoresis gel or categorizing samples from nearby...