Levine Scholars Blog
With COVID-19, I had no idea what this fall semester would look like. There was so much uncertainty with a pandemic underway, and this was to be my first year no less. Still, I was thrilled at the opportunity to be on campus, which I saw as the beginning of my life independent of my parents.
Before the pandemic started, I had plans to spend the fall semester of my senior year in Taipei, Taiwan, studying in an intensive Chinese language program. I was only five when I moved from Taiwan to North Carolina with my mom and sister, returning during the summer every one or two years to visit my dad.
When I was a freshman, as many are fated to do, I found myself sampling the pot of extracurriculars that life on campus afforded me. In my cohort (‘21), and the Levine Scholars Program as a whole, it’s almost impossible to not be friends with a biology major so when my friends mentioned tree-planting for extra credit in one of their biology courses and an opportunity for volunteer hours I tagged along to breathe some fresh air and muddy my hands a bit.
Scholars volunteering to cook meals at the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) of Charlotte is an enduring tradition for the LSP.
This past summer, the principal investigator (PI) of the chemistry research lab in which I have worked since my freshman year—Dr. Markus Etzkorn—was awarded a Moissan Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) by the ACS Division of Chemistry fluorine division. Through this grant—which provides funding in the form of a $4,000 stipend for an undergraduate student to carry out research in fluorine chemistry—I was able to carry out a research project in the field of organofluorine chemistry.
I spent my Nonprofit Internship summer with Catawba Lands Conservancy (CLC), a Charlotte-area land trust. Each day in the internship brought unique adventures; I wrangled goats in heat, cursed at kudzu while attempting to eradicate the invasive plant, and learned about stewardship’s role in the Charlotte region and beyond.
5 Lessons Learned on NOLS 1. Everybody has good and bad days (or moments)— embrace both: NOLS was one of the most dynamic times of my life. My mood really changed like the seasons out there. When it was sunny, I was at my happiest. When it rained, I was more despondent. And, when it […]
Going into NOLS, all we knew was that the next twenty-three days would be spent in a dystopian world without cell phones or any connection to the outside world.
Time starts to lose form when you measure it not in days, but in episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Deadlines seem further away. Memories seem closer. And Captain Picard seems to be constantly giving life advice.
This summer I am interning for Opera Carolina in Charlotte, NC. I serve as an intern to the departments of Community Relations, Marketing, and Education; however, I have spent most of my time completing educational tasks, such as managing Opera Carolina’s Academy, a summer workshop for singers and actors in grades 6-12.
2020 has been a whirlwind for me as it has been for everyone, and looking back; it feels like March was years ago. Before March, I spent months planning and getting ready for a Summer Abroad in Spain- then backpacking throughout Europe. Let me tell you, it was going to be EPIC.
May 25th, 2020 was anything but a typical Memorial Day in America. While most Americans enjoyed limited freedoms from COVID-19 restrictions, spending time outside with friends and family, and honoring the men and women who have given their lives for the freedoms we experience in America, a Black man named George Floyd was carelessly murdered when a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds.