Tuesday, May 5, 2015

PINK TEAM, BEST TEAM

If I had to put my finger on my favorite part of the structure of 20.109, I would without a doubt have to say it's the team structure that the class puts in place. On the very first day, my lab partner (shout out to Lo B) and I were assigned to Team Pink, and for the rest of the semester, this became our identity. We were THE pink team, and we took this very seriously. We may even have coordinated outfits with pink accents, but hey, I admit to nothing. What was so great about the team-oriented structure of 20.109 was that you never felt alone during all the struggles of the semester. When you were confused, you had someone right beside you to clear things up (or to keep you company in your confusion). When you had to crunch countless lines of data, there was someone right beside you with the same headache. Most importantly, when you were successful and your data rocked, there was someone right next to you celebrating. This spirit of collaboration that 20.109 fostered made the class infinitely more enjoyable, and it also made the class more realistic. Out in the big, scary world of research, you are truly not alone. You will be working in a lab surrounded by other grad students and post docs, and these people will be your support system. They will be there to bounce ideas off of and to help guide you with their expertise. They will be the ones working with you on the projects that result in your first (with many to follow) publications. I know for sure that I would not have made it through this semester without Team Pink. We were not the perfect team (though I like to think we were pretty close). We had our struggle days. However, we always had each other to keep chugging along through whatever challenges we faced. Together, we dissected the microbiome of Bird 290, discovering our favorite bacteria, Klebsiella Oxytoca. We identified a potent inhibitor of CHO NHEJ, NU-7441. Together, we built our very own solar cell, coming in with a grand total of 1.2% efficiency. Overall, together we built our 20.109 story. We laughed, we cried we ate a lot of chocolate, and now we are a week from saying that we made it through. There may be an I in pink, but there is definitely no I  in team, and without my team, I definitely would not have made it through this semester. Going forward into my science career, I will never forget the importance of collaboration, the importance of the people around me. They will be the ones to pick me up when I fall down. Hopefully, I will always have a Team Pink to keep me going.

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