“When I was little I never gave much thought of what it meant to be a scientist. I figured it meant you wore some wonky goggles and a lab coat and sat around and asked questions all day. As I entered high school, I was exposed to these upper level math and science classes like Algebra and Chemistry. Like most of my peers, I found myself asking the question when and why will I ever need to know this information? When I got to college I chose biology as my major and when I saw that my degree would require me to take 4 semesters of chemistry as well as a semester of Calculus - and any other courses needed to get into calculus - I was humbled to say the least. I knew I loved biology from that very first semester I entered college, so I told myself I would suck it up and take the other required courses and get it over with. Keep in mind, I really did not know what I wanted to do with a degree in biology, I just knew I really loved the content. It wasn't until halfway through my second semester that I found out about research and I decided to take a step into that field. That summer, I began working in a lab focused on Systems and Computational Neuroscience. If it hasn't become apparent already, I love biology, so the science part of this lab was absolutely fascinating to me and I just wanted to learn everything I could. However, the Computational part requires some upper level math knowledge - similar to what you'd find in Mathematics minor or Engineering major. I was intimidated and found myself questioning whether or not this lab was the right place for me; I told myself that I would continue to focus on the science aspect and pick up the math part when it was necessary. As you might expect, through discussion, or other encounters, I began to see a lot of the math side and found myself wanting to understand it and see how it tied into the science. Currently, I am still in the lab and planning on pursuing math courses beyond the required semester of Calculus. In addition, I also find myself needing some basic chemistry knowledge on a daily basis to understand what is going on in the lab. Science is hard, Math is hard, learning is hard - be weary of anybody who tells you different. However, Science and Math are also fun, especially when you stop selling yourself short or ruling things out because you think it's unimportant. Find something you like and run with it, if you encounter obstacles, then overcome them - that's what science is about - and of course have fun while learning.”