“I am the result of a genetic mutation. I am an albino,” I declared, parsing what I recalled from an excerpt on the Mayo Clinic website. My classmates’ eyes lit up in awe as they surrounded my desk. With sandwiches and juice boxes in tow, we indulged in our usual lunchtime banter, under the glow of warm classroom ceiling lights. “Like the X-Men?” one classmate asked, proudly pointing to his lunchbox. “So does that mean you have superpowers?” another classmate...

Science has been a constant in all aspects of my life. It nurtured me when I struggled with my identity as a fairskinned albino child born to black parents. It filled my days with joy, as I fished for tadpoles to take home to watch grow. It answered my rhetorical questions in the worst of times, when I learned that my sister suddenly died of cardiomyopathy (an enlarged heart condition) one week before her twelfth birthday and as I watched...

Science has been a constant in all aspects of my life. It nurtured me when I struggled with my identity as a fairskinned albino child born to black parents. It filled my days with joy, as I fished for tadpoles to take home to watch grow. It answered my rhetorical questions in the worst of times, when I learned that my sister suddenly died of cardiomyopathy (an enlarged heart condition) one week before her twelfth birthday and as I watched...