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When I started the summer, I thought I knew what to expect. Since first year, I’d been reaching out to labs, trying different things, and learning what I liked/disliked. I had a sense of how a research project would go. This summer, I was looking forward to diving into wet lab methods in mental health research. Then my original project was no longer available. For nearly two months, I was in limbo, feeling like I’d fallen through the cracks. Eventually, I decided if a learning experience wasn’t going to materialize, I’d create my own.

I reached out to every person in the lab whose research interested me. I practiced cognitive testing protocols, helped another study with recruitment, and kept showing up. One month before the end of the summer, I got my own project analyzing data no one else in the lab fully understood. It was an incredible challenge, but I taught myself to code, and I figured out the required analysis. By summer's end, I was the only undergraduate student presenting at multiple symposiums, and I won awards at each one.

To other students in this situation: reach out for support as soon as you can and keep showing up. As frustrating as the first few weeks were, by the end of the summer I felt like I had completed a real research project. Today, I’m trying my best to move forward in a positive way. I’ve always been interested in clinical psychology and look forward to new research opportunities ahead.