My Northwestern Direction
When tutoring, I realized that the students and I lived different lives. They did not have access to a resourced, tight-knit suburban community as I did, one whose caring adults used city parks and classrooms to provide the extracurricular opportunities that kept my friends and me busy while strengthening our ability to lead, persist, collaborate, problem solve and celebrate others’ successes.
One of the most transformative experiences I had in the Master of Science in Education program was being asked to develop a personal philosophy of education — what I value most about teaching and learning. When professor Sophie Haroutunian-Gordon read an early draft, she pointed out its strengths but kindly noted how little it showcased my voice.
One day during my freshman year, I was sitting in the McCormick Foundation Center during an introductory journalism course where different professors would come in and give us a cursory overview of different sectors in the industry: digital, broadcast television and magazines. But the lecture that day was the one I had been waiting weeks for: radio.
My academic career trajectory has been like Sheridan Road: lots of twists and turns but eventually ending up in Evanston. I did my undergraduate degree at Loyola, on Sheridan Road in Rogers Park.
In 2015 I was diagnosed with a giant osteoma in my head. The slow-growing tumor, which was larger than a golf ball, threatened to blind me.
My 18-year-old self would be shocked to see me writing this — and very relieved. You don’t outgrow Northwestern — it grows with you in unexpected and special ways, if you let it.
As a scientist dedicated to research related to the molecular understanding of childhood leukemia, I am gratified that my scientific journey has brought me to Northwestern. Along my path, I have not only discovered promising ways of treating leukemia, I have also been fortunate to shed significant light on other forms of cancer.
Northwestern is an environment in which the power of open-minded partnership and links between fields are promoted at all levels of the University. On a personal level, it means that I have been encouraged to follow my own vision and seek out opportunities for intersection and impact in those areas that are well outside of core computer science.
When I reflected on my time at Northwestern, I realized that the undergraduate experience was built on crossing paths. This was a common theme among my fellow students — creative and analytical thinkers who had diverse interests.
The old masters painted with pigments derived from a variety of minerals, metals and plant-based dyes. I paint with iron oxide extracted from toxic sludge that seeps out of Appalachian coal mines and pollutes Ohio rivers.
