“Hi, my name is Zahria Patrick. I am a sophomore chemistry major. And I'm here to tell my story of how chemist she came to me. I always loved science. But what really sealed the deal for me were the two chemistry classes I took in high school. I took my first one, my sophomore year of high school, my teacher at the time, walked in with a rainbow lab coat that I thought was really, really pretty. And she performed a demonstration for us. It was just a quick, like fun one to start off the semester. She mixed a few chemicals together. I forgot what they were, I don't remember if she told us, but she put them in a little mini cannon, and made a small explosion in our classroom. From that day forward, I was intrigued. We did many other things like work with dry ice. And before I took that class, I never worked with dry ice before, I've only seen videos of it. So that was really cool to me, because I'd never played with it before and I really wanted to. Fast forward to my senior year in high school, I took another advanced chemistry class. By that time, I kind of already knew I wanted to major in chemistry, that class just confirmed. Like it confirmed just how much I wanted to pursue it. We did a plethora of things. That was when I did my first hydration. I also burned magnesium and that was really cool because when we burned it, it was really bright, almost like a star. Like if someone were to take a star out of the sky and put it in front of us. That was how bright it was. We did more things. But those were the two experiments that I remember the most. I just loved the idea of making observations, recording data, putting on my little lab coat and goggles. It all made me feel like I was a real scientist. Now that I'm in college, the love for chemistry, never went away in only grew. I've worked with acid. I've make chemicals that smell like candy. Grape candy, and bananas to be very specific. It was really cool because our labs were filled with those smells. Now I catch myself talking to my parents, as if I'm a professional chemist. I read the labels of products and say things like, "Oh, I know what that is." or "Oh, I know what that does." I love everything about chemistry. I still feel like that little girl in high school, whenever I come across something new that I like or something that I find out in chemistry. Like, for instance, the class that I'm in now we have to use a lab notebook. This is my first time using like a real lab notebook where you have to write down the procedure, the equipment and all that stuff. And so I really, really like it. I know that kind of sounds weird, like a lab notebook. It's just a notebook. But for me, it's part of why I like chemistry. It makes me feel all professional chemist-y. Yeah, I'm looking forward to being a professional chemist and really getting out there and working in people in real people's labs well eat in people's labs. If you're interested in STEM, go for it is fun. It can be tough at times, of course anything in life is but for me at least it doesn't even feel like I'm doing just schoolwork. I have fun doing it to have fun, figuring out the problems and all that stuff. I love it. And if you're interested, join us it's fun over here. And that's my story. Again, my name is Zahria Patrick, and this was how chemist she came to be. Thank you”