My breath fogged the window as I watched the swiftly-passing countryside give way to downtown Ann Arbor. It was 5 o’clock on a Saturday morning, and the sun had yet to peek over the horizon. As we pulled into the Farmer’s Market, I hopped out of the truck and wrapped my Hello Kitty blanket around me. I sleepily watched my father unpack the tables, the signs, and, most importantly, the vegetables. Eventually I would get up to organize the...

From a young age, I have had a passion for learning and hard work. This is not so unusual in my family: my father is an organic farmer, my mother a nurse practitioner, my grandmother a CEO, and my deceased grandfather was the controversial publisher of Grove Press. My family has always taught me to seek education, work for my future, and pursue my interests with passion and dedication. I now approach college with the aspiration to grow my presence...

I walk into the small, fluorescently lit conference room and am greeted by an enthusiastic figure. This is Ricky, my boss at the Planned Parenthood Peer Educator Program. He hugs me and points me toward the table filled with snacks and juice boxes, where the rest of the peer eds are gathered. This is a routine I have come to love. My Wednesday afternoons are now the highlight of my week, rather than the often dreaded mid-week slump. As a...

When I sent out inquiries to do lab work over the summer, I had a hazy idea of what I might end up doing. The first few days of my internship at a University of Michigan pharmacology research laboratory were hard: pipetting delicate chemicals and calculating molarity required intense focus and attention to detail. It felt like I had run ten miles at the end of each day; but I remained determined. I have wanted to attend medical school since...

I walk into the small, fluorescently lit conference room and am greeted by an enthusiastic figure. This is Ricky, my boss at the Planned Parenthood Peer Educator Program. He hugs me and points me toward the table filled with snacks and juice boxes, where the rest of the peer eds are gathered. This is a routine I have come to love. My Wednesday afternoons are now the highlight of my week, rather than the often dreaded mid-week slump. As a...

The common theme I have heard most often over the past 6 months of looking at colleges is “big vs small”, and I have been fortunate enough to visit several colleges of both sizes. In fact, because I live in Ann Arbor and interact with the University of Michigan on a daily basis, getting to visit other colleges was an experience I really appreciated. After a summer college campus tour I came back to Ann Arbor with new appreciation for the...

Offensive and Objectionable: an Account of Censorship in America What does it mean to censor? What does censorship look like? How does it affect us as individuals and as a nation? America has seen its fair share of controversy over censorship. From The Tropic of Capricorn to Catch-22, hundreds of books and films have been banned by various entities including the US Postal system, schools and religious organizations. Scientific research, political opinion and religious beliefs have been deemed unacceptable time...

As a young woman intending to pursue a career in the STEM field, I will face many challenges. Talking to a family member about my concerns, I was advised to consider a women’s college for my undergraduate education. She told me that at a women’s college, I would find strength and confidence in the classroom that I will not find anywhere else. In my search for a college that will support my aspirations and give me an interdisciplinary...

As a child I loved to talk to my relatives about college. I couldn’t wait to move to a new city and learn new things. Although I didn’t completely understand the concept of higher education, I understood the effect it had on people. My grandfather was especially passionate about his alma mater. He told me story after story of basketball games and his favorite professors. He always said that he couldn’t wait until his grandchildren were old...

As a child, I loved going to Detroit. I would occasionally go to a hockey game in downtown Hamtramck, and get saganaki cheese in Greektown with my aunt afterwards, or go to the Detroit Art Museum to see the Diego Rivera mural; I always loved finding new scenes in the large fresco. It almost felt like a vacation, but as I grew older the disparities between my hometown, Ann Arbor, and the neighboring city of Detroit became more obvious. Entering...

Ann Arbor, Michigan: home to impressive public schools, liberal activism, and the University of Michigan. Growing up in between the two cities gave me a unique perspective on my predominantly white, liberal hometown. If you stand in front of an Ann Arbor middle school in the few minutes before the bell rings, you can hear middle aged parents’ whispered conversation: the superintendent wasn’t spending money in the right places, Forsythe middle school had a pot problem, and their kids...

Community High School is a small alternative public school in the middle of downtown Ann Arbor. When I first arrived at Community as a freshman, I didn’t know what to expect. I had accepted a spot at Community in order to take smaller, more personalized classes, and have a more open curriculum. Community’s block scheduling allows students to take longer, more in-depth classes. Throughout high school I took advantage of all that Community has to offer and realized...

Explaining Consciousness: the Battle of Science and Philosophy What is consciousness? Where does it come from? What separates a simple object from an animate being? The separation between the mind and the body continues to be one of the most disputed mysteries of human existence. In this course we will explore the long debated mind-body problem through both a philosophical and scientific analysis. We will study both historical and modern texts from across the globe to piece together a clear...