Last year, I was given the opportunity to visit the lab of Dr. Helen Lu who is a graduate professor in the Biomedical Engineering while participating in Columbia's Summer Program for High Schoolers. She was extremely kind and let me into her lab to see the work while explaining the work she was doing with the engineering of tissue using scaffolds as blueprints for the bone/tissue to grow around before dissolving and leaving only the product.
The energy and enthusiasm that Dr. Lu showed when talking about her project to me even though I was only a high schooler really encompasses what I love about Columbia. For her, the fact that I wasn't her student nor had I received a high school diploma didn't matter. When I spent my three weeks there as a Columbia Summer Program student, I could feel this enthusiasm from Dr. Hazard and Dr. Ciulla when they taught us the basic principles of genetics whether that was through breeding fruit flies or showing us the more analytical side of the subject. Hanging out with my friends from my dorm floor, Furnald 7, I realized just how important this enthusiasm is. We were of all different interests, one did creative writing, another did photography, another chose nano-engineering and I chose genetics but we were able to find a common thread because we all were passionate in what we were doing and that joined us together. From that experience, I understood how that energy that radiates all around Columbia, both inside and outside of class, permeates into every part of a student's life. Not only are Columbia students passionate about their major and the work they are doing in the lab or in their project, they're known for extending that excitement throughout the world.
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