| Personal Statement |
| One thing that I love most about Lafayette is the Cur Non attitude, which I believe I have thoroughly embraced. I was recruited out of high school to play collegiate football, but I knew academics were equally important because of my aspirations to become a physician. Lafayette presented the perfect combination to become a Division 1 football student-athlete while also receiving a top-notch education. I entered Lafayette pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry, yet I was also fascinated by neuroscience. When my first course registration plan imploded, I thought “Why not investigate if I can chase dual Bachelor of Science degrees in biochemistry and neuroscience?” After consulting with my advisor, and hours spent looking through degree audit and the college catalog, I discovered that it was possible. Those semesters with 2, 3, even 4 labs were certainly brutal, but looking back I would not change a thing. My academic achievements earned me the nickname of “The Wizard” by my teammates, but I am most proud of what I have been able to give back to the communities around me. Whether it be providing emergency medical care while working as an EMT in Easton, or mentoring freshmen student-athletes as a Peer Mentor, I have strived to use my experiences to lift up those around me. I love chemistry and eagerly accepted the opportunity to share my knowledge as a General Chemistry SI Leader when the opportunity presented itself. I have been fortunate to partake in some of the research being done here at Lafayette, and after a summer of EXCEL work in the Chemistry Department, I had amassed enough findings to present at the national American Chemical Society meeting the following spring. Winning the Patriot League Football Championship in 2023 was incredible, but getting accepted to medical school was even better. It has been an incredible few years, ones that I will deeply miss, and I will be proud to represent Lafayette when I matriculate to the UC Irvine School of Medicine in August. |
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| Academic Activity / Award |
Total years participated |
Briefly describe your involvement |
| Dean’s List |
4 |
I have earned recognition on the Dean’s List for academic achievement during every semester thus far. |
| EXCEL Summer Research Scholar |
1 |
I worked under Dr. Nataro in the Department of Chemistry during the summer of 2023. The goal of our work was to investigate the reactivity of a series of gold-containing compounds, and how their reactivity influenced a catalytic system. Although challenging, it was incredibly exciting to dive into organometallic chemistry, a field that I had no previous exposure to. I loved the exploratory side of our work, and having to interpret results from experiments that had not ever been done before. The even more exciting part was getting to work on drafting the paper for publication and seeing all the different aspects of the project come together. |
| American Chemical Society Spring 2024 Poster Presentation |
1 |
I prepared a poster titled “Activation of B-C Bonds in [BAr4]- by gold (I)” to present the research I undertook during the summer of 2023 as an EXCEL Scholar and subsequently presented it during the poster session for undergraduate research in inorganic chemistry at the American Chemical Society 2024 Spring conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. The opportunity to share my research with numerous graduate students, post-doctorates, and professors from around the country in the field of inorganic chemistry was exciting, especially getting to answer questions about why we did the work and potential next steps to explore. |
| 2023 LVACS Organic Chemistry Scholarship Grand Prize Winner |
1 |
The Lehigh Valley American Chemical Society sponsored a competition that consisted of the American Chemical Society Organic Chemistry Examination, an essay about a topic in organic chemistry, and a letter of recommendation from my organic chemistry professor. My Organic Chemistry II professor, Dr. Griffith, recommended I partake in the competition due to my performance in his class and offered to support me in the competition. In my essay I wrote about the puzzle-like challenges presented to organic chemists, which I tied into the project I was pursuing in a chemistry research course. I love how organic chemistry requires the integration of many different concepts to solve complex problems, and that thought process has helped me to search for ways to connect concepts across all my coursework. |
| Supplemental Instruction Leader for General Chemistry I with Recitation |
1 |
During the 2023 Fall semester I worked as a Supplemental Instruction Leader in a general chemistry class designed for incoming freshmen lacking a strong background in chemistry. The course had an integrated weekly review in the schedule, during which my partner and I would give a short review presentation before helping students work through a worksheet with extra practice problems. Although our main goal was to help the students better understand chemistry, we also advised to the students with regards to note-taking methods, study habits and exam preparation, hoping that some of the skills we discussed would transfer across disciplines. |
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| Campus Service Activity/Award |
Total years participated |
Briefly describe your involvement |
| Student-athlete Peer Mentor |
3 |
As a Peer Mentor, I get to oversee a group of 5-6 freshmen student-athletes throughout their first year. The year starts with athlete orientation, where I and the other mentors help all the incoming athletes get accustomed to campus and their responsibilities as both students and athletes. Once courses start I begin weekly 1-on-1 meetings with my mentees. My goal is to help them have a smooth and successful transition to college life. I have found that because everyone is coming from a different background, I need to tailor my guidance to each mentee. Whether it be finding a good balance between activities, working on time management, improving study skills, or anything else that might be a hurdle during the first year of college, I strive to share my experiences and guide my mentees towards success in whichever way will help them the most. I also get to help my mentees with course registration and planning, which I know firsthand can be very stressful and frustrating. I try to outline the process over a couple weeks and show them all the resources they have to plan their schedule while answering any questions that may arise. One of my favorite parts of being a Peer Mentor is watching the growth my mentees show during their first year. Many start the semester nervous about the challenges of college level courses, but by the time we are saying goodbye as the spring semester nears its end, they have all the confidence in the world to thrive on and off the competition field. |
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| Community Service |
Total years participated |
Briefly describe your involvement |
| Emergency Medical Technician |
2 |
I obtained my Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification during my senior year of high school, with hopes of getting involved in EMS at Lafayette. Unfortunately, those plans were delayed by an athletic injury my freshman year, but my desire to serve the community remained. Once I was healed and mobile during the 2022 spring semester, I began doing ride-alongs with the Easton Emergency Squad. While I was on campus that summer, I began to work as a volunteer EMT for the company. I worked alongside a partner to respond to 911 medical emergencies for the City of Easton and surrounding communities. I had to step away during the fall due to football but returned to work part-time during the 2023 spring semester and summer. I also worked during the 2024 spring semester, during which I had to step away due to scheduling conflicts. Getting to serve my community and aid individuals during a medical emergency was one of my favorite aspects of the job. I always tried to converse with my patients as much as possible, as I am certain it is an uncomfortable and anxiety-inducing experience to need emergency medical care. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet individuals from all walks of life, whether that be college students, working citizens, retirees, the homeless community, or anyone else in need of medical care. Working as an EMT allowed me to enhance my interpersonal communication skills as well as my critical thinking capacity. I have grown in my capacity for compassion and empathy, as I have observed that medical emergencies affect all walks of life. I have learned that sometimes the greatest medicine is simply having someone to talk to, and that medical conditions are far more complex in the real world. |
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| Athletic Activity/Award |
Total years participated |
Briefly describe your involvement |
| Varsity Football |
4 |
I was a 4-year member of our varsity football team, including our Patriot League Championship run in 2023. During the seasons I balanced upwards of 20 hours a week of team meetings, workouts, and practices, and that doesn’t even account for games or travel. The offseason was somewhat kinder with only 8 hours of weekly commitments, yet still grueling. I spent a majority of the summers leading into each year living on campus and training with my team for the upcoming season, including an intense preseason camp leading up to the start of the semester. I also ruptured my left Achille’s tendon during preseason training my freshman year, adding the extra challenge of a lengthy rehabilitation on top of normal team activities. I may not have had significant playing time for our team during my career, but I found a role on our offensive scout team. Our job on the scout team was to mimic our opponents each week and prepare our defense, and I took immense pride in knowing that my efforts each week helped us to find victory on Saturdays. |
| Patriot League Academic Honor Roll |
4 |
I earned a spot on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll in every season I competed for my academic accomplishments. |
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| Special Interest Activity/Award |
Total years participated |
Briefly describe your involvement |
| Translational Neurobiology Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow |
1 |
This past summer I was a research fellow at Virginia Tech as a part of their neuroSURF program, a 10-week full-time fellowship focused on hypothesis driven research in addition to weekly seminars discussing translational neurobiology. I spent the summer living in Roanoke, Virginia, and working under Dr. Sharon Swanger while studying a mouse model of an epileptic disorder called Dravet Syndrome. The program concluded with two poster symposia where I was able to present my work at, and I won the third-place prize for data acquisition at one of them. |
| FDNY Medical Special Operations Conference 2022 |
1 |
The New York City Fire Department sponsored a conference focused on medical first responders and current challenges in emergency medicine that I was able to attend. The conference consisted of numerous presentations from national and global leaders in disaster response, with a focus on sharing their expertise for attendees to bring back to their local agencies. The conference also included multiple hands-on scenarios to practice responding to uncommon emergencies such as collapsed structures, subway/railway-related emergencies, and mass-casualty incidents. |
| Tactical Emergency Casualty Care Certification |
1 |
During 2022 I had the opportunity to obtain my Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC) certification in a class taught by members of the New York Police Department. The course is focused on applying emergency medical concepts to a hostile threat environment. I learned about how EMS and police can integrate to respond to active shooter environments, and how to adapt medical assessment skills and treatments to those environments. |
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