Alex Alcaraz Larose

I made some amazing friendships this summer...

posted August 12, 2017

I made some amazing friendships this summer; from Noah who started my sushiritto addiction to Emily who will be letting me work in her lab. I've learned so much from all of them and hope that they feel the same.

One of the more memorable experiences this summer for me was the field trip to Pinnacles national park. Thrice I was within 15 feet of a raccoon, I organized a battle-to-the-death between a beetle, wasp, and a black widow, Victor and I collapsed our tent on a sleeping Noah, and we all hiked up a mountain that I will remember to never hike up again. I never knew my legs had it it them.

Back at Stanford, our group’s research project went very well. It was on how different wind speeds affected the physiology of butterfly wing’s. Our results showed that smaller winged butterflies can live in high and low wind speeds, whereas large winged butterflies were restricted to low wind speed area’s. We got a lot of compliments on our project, especially from Mr. Payne. I really enjoyed doing research and will definitely be doing more.

I had many “firsts” this summer that I am thankful for: hiking, camping, internship-ing, meeting so many scientist, and doing a research project that produced actual results. Thank you SEYI for the unforgettable opportunity.

I am going to start off by saying that...

posted July 10, 2017

I am going to start off by saying that it is one of the best feelings to be around so many others my age that share the profound love and passion
for science. At school, I have always felt alienated because no one could understand why I wanted to discuss the ever expanding cosmos or the recent
breakthroughs in medicine. Every time I brought science up, I could hear it in their voice and see it in their body language that they couldn't care
less, and it hurt. I feel like I've been living my whole life as a lone wallaby, and coming to intern at Stanford was me finding my wallaby mob. So
far, the funnest parts for me have been the lectures. My favorite lecturer hands down has to be the hippy entomologist, Sandra Schachat. I’ll never
forget the lesson on the “poop moth” which incubates in marsupial/Koala turds until it is ready to flap its wings, in which it then eat its way out
of the turd. Before coming to Stanford, I had the false impression that most of the world and the life it harbors was already discovered and well
understood by scientist. Finding out that I was wrong was the best thing that could have happened to me. I am now more excited than ever to pursue
a career as a researcher and see what legacy I leave behind, if any legacy since you need to be dead to have one and I am planning on making myself
immortal. P.S., the one and a half hour lunch break is quite amazing.