Mechanisms For Me
As I had mentioned in my introduction, Mechanisms of Human Heath and Disease is an unbelievable experience for high school students wanting challenging college level introductory lessons. Something wonderful about Mechanisms is that they make slight adjustments to the curriculum every year. So the 2016 edition was slightly different than all the previous years. To begin, I was introduced to the course through Mr. Woodford, the college guidance counselor of Hilliard. I quickly filled out the application which consisted of writing two essays, your official school transcript, and an application form. I was alerted that I would be attending a couple months after submitting in the form, and I began my summer homework, to read two books: The Hot Zone by Richard Preston and Microbe by Alan Zelicoff. On the first day of class, I was expected to know the books very well and after a brief introduction of the course by Joe Schultz, the founder, we took a very difficult quiz on the two books. During the class, the raw average for the quizzes was 40 percent, which displays how difficult these quizzes were, and all the thirty-one individuals in the class were extremely intelligent, capable students. After the grueling quiz, we were informed about how the class would work. In essence, the class was designed to expose us to college level material but the class would not have a grade for neither high school nor college. However, everyone was ranked and the top student got placed in a lab.
We began with notes on our very first day. We watched a video called Biovisions that we would end up watching at the beginning of every class and would always have four questions on the quiz related to Biovisions. Biovisions is an animation made by Harvard students that shows the inner life of a leukocyte, or a white blood cell. After Biovisions, we were introduced to our notes of pathophysiology, lectured by college student Abdullah Alam. We continued to take notes on various introductory courses such as biochemistry and organic chemistry. We also had a cancer section every class day and had a life skills portion where we learned about networking, internships, and personality types. We were assigned a plethora of homework every class day which was usually to do an in depth outline of the chapters for the next class, and the homework was collected at the beginning of every class. Furthermore, we would take a quiz on material we learned in the previous class with difficult questions and a time frame of ten minutes.
Aside from the lectures, homework, and quizes, we participated in many bonding and group activities, and I made many great friends there. Additionally, we had an apprentice project group with a TA who had taken Mechanisms previously. To make the whole experience of Mechanisms more fun, the Head TA had made it all Harry Potter themed, which I personally loved because I am a massive Harry Potter fan. So, my apprentice project group was Hufflepuff, and our TA was Hannah Lee, a graduate of Darby High School in 2016; our project was to research Hepatitis E and its quasi membrane functions, meaning that when Hepatitis E is outside in the environment then the virus is not enveloped in a membrane; however, when it enters the human body, it develops a membrane, and that makes it exceptionally difficult to treat the virus. Nevertheless, while we learned an incredible amount about Hepatitis E, we also became very good friends and spent a lot of time together. Like in Harry Potter, we also had a house cup; unfortunately, Hufflepuff came second by five points, but the competition was friendly and was more focused on working together as colleagues than winning.
Alongside the class, we took some pretty incredible field trips that pertained to our class lectures and discussions. As a class we went to the Cadaver Lab at Ohio State University where we were able to see and interact with separate human organs and tissues; lungs, hearts, and eyes, and there were some cadavers that had been dissected, and we had the liberty to learn a great deal of the human anatomy by touching and moving the cadaver. Moreover, We took two trips specific to out apprentice project groups. Since we were studying Hepatitis E we took a visit down to the aviarium at Nationwide Children's Hospital where they keep all the animals for study. We got to visit rats, mice, frogs, and the radiographic facilities for these animals such as X rays and MRI's for the animals. Additionally, we got to visit a lab in the research facility at Nationwide where they conducted studies related to Hepatitis E; it was fascinating to measure Hepatitis E DNA and the concentration of the DNA.
Finally, the last major component of the class was to complete an independent study on a disease of your choosing. I chose schizophrenia because we briefly touched on it in AP Psychology, and it really fascinated me. I spent hours researching this disease, talking to psychiatrists and researcher at Nationwide, and reading case studies. To share my results, I wrote a seventeen page research paper on the potential molecular pathway of schizophrenia with medication today that is most efficient; furthermore, I had to present a briefer version of my paper to an auditorium full of researchers and students at Nationwide. Here is a link to my research paper on the hypothetical molecular pathways of schizophrenia: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_BvGw0l4x_BXQXZ2_tIGDhigGl-KJsaMvxBQKGyoyhk/edit?usp=sharing
Mechanisms was, without a doubt, one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but it also taught me very much and gave me an incredible experience. Through it, I learned more about microbiology and human diseases than I ever have before, with college level material taught by professors or college students themselves. I was introduced to many doctors that worked at Nationwide and other prominent hospitals, and built a connection with them through our passion for the medical field. I learned a lot of life skills, different personality types, and how to properly network with people for lab internships and other opportunities. I gained the friendship of like minded, hardworking individuals who continue to help me and contact me after the class has finished. I experienced lab work with unusual diseases like Hepatitis E, and I studied in depth schizophrenia, a disease that intrigues and have wanted to learn about for awhile now. In all, while Mechanism was a strenuous and grueling program, I had an absolutely amazing experience.
We began with notes on our very first day. We watched a video called Biovisions that we would end up watching at the beginning of every class and would always have four questions on the quiz related to Biovisions. Biovisions is an animation made by Harvard students that shows the inner life of a leukocyte, or a white blood cell. After Biovisions, we were introduced to our notes of pathophysiology, lectured by college student Abdullah Alam. We continued to take notes on various introductory courses such as biochemistry and organic chemistry. We also had a cancer section every class day and had a life skills portion where we learned about networking, internships, and personality types. We were assigned a plethora of homework every class day which was usually to do an in depth outline of the chapters for the next class, and the homework was collected at the beginning of every class. Furthermore, we would take a quiz on material we learned in the previous class with difficult questions and a time frame of ten minutes.
Aside from the lectures, homework, and quizes, we participated in many bonding and group activities, and I made many great friends there. Additionally, we had an apprentice project group with a TA who had taken Mechanisms previously. To make the whole experience of Mechanisms more fun, the Head TA had made it all Harry Potter themed, which I personally loved because I am a massive Harry Potter fan. So, my apprentice project group was Hufflepuff, and our TA was Hannah Lee, a graduate of Darby High School in 2016; our project was to research Hepatitis E and its quasi membrane functions, meaning that when Hepatitis E is outside in the environment then the virus is not enveloped in a membrane; however, when it enters the human body, it develops a membrane, and that makes it exceptionally difficult to treat the virus. Nevertheless, while we learned an incredible amount about Hepatitis E, we also became very good friends and spent a lot of time together. Like in Harry Potter, we also had a house cup; unfortunately, Hufflepuff came second by five points, but the competition was friendly and was more focused on working together as colleagues than winning.
Alongside the class, we took some pretty incredible field trips that pertained to our class lectures and discussions. As a class we went to the Cadaver Lab at Ohio State University where we were able to see and interact with separate human organs and tissues; lungs, hearts, and eyes, and there were some cadavers that had been dissected, and we had the liberty to learn a great deal of the human anatomy by touching and moving the cadaver. Moreover, We took two trips specific to out apprentice project groups. Since we were studying Hepatitis E we took a visit down to the aviarium at Nationwide Children's Hospital where they keep all the animals for study. We got to visit rats, mice, frogs, and the radiographic facilities for these animals such as X rays and MRI's for the animals. Additionally, we got to visit a lab in the research facility at Nationwide where they conducted studies related to Hepatitis E; it was fascinating to measure Hepatitis E DNA and the concentration of the DNA.
Finally, the last major component of the class was to complete an independent study on a disease of your choosing. I chose schizophrenia because we briefly touched on it in AP Psychology, and it really fascinated me. I spent hours researching this disease, talking to psychiatrists and researcher at Nationwide, and reading case studies. To share my results, I wrote a seventeen page research paper on the potential molecular pathway of schizophrenia with medication today that is most efficient; furthermore, I had to present a briefer version of my paper to an auditorium full of researchers and students at Nationwide. Here is a link to my research paper on the hypothetical molecular pathways of schizophrenia: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_BvGw0l4x_BXQXZ2_tIGDhigGl-KJsaMvxBQKGyoyhk/edit?usp=sharing
Mechanisms was, without a doubt, one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but it also taught me very much and gave me an incredible experience. Through it, I learned more about microbiology and human diseases than I ever have before, with college level material taught by professors or college students themselves. I was introduced to many doctors that worked at Nationwide and other prominent hospitals, and built a connection with them through our passion for the medical field. I learned a lot of life skills, different personality types, and how to properly network with people for lab internships and other opportunities. I gained the friendship of like minded, hardworking individuals who continue to help me and contact me after the class has finished. I experienced lab work with unusual diseases like Hepatitis E, and I studied in depth schizophrenia, a disease that intrigues and have wanted to learn about for awhile now. In all, while Mechanism was a strenuous and grueling program, I had an absolutely amazing experience.