The biology program at Longwood University has set me up to grow as a biologist by giving me the necessary tools to understand the major principles of biology. Coming into college from high school, I had a very basic understanding of the major principles of biology. Now, as a senior biology major about to graduate college, I have a much more in-depth, unifying and complete understanding of this biology principles. The journey of me learning about these principles started in my integrative biology course. Here, I learned the basics of biology and what studying biology actually means. I loved this class, and now looking back at it, it was such a great foundation for what I know now. Our first lab project for that class focused on the growth of bacteria. As seen in the artifact below, our project results showed that we understood how to run an experiment, create figures for our data, and demonstrated our knowledge of bacterial growth as an organism. While a basic experiment, this was setting the stage for my future experiments as a biology major.
My growth in understanding biological principles can be seen in my work done in my vertebrate physiology class, the spring of my junior year. The content was much more intense and complex, and our professor expected us to know and apply the knowledge we learned in our integrative biology course. Our take-home exams were great examples of this. The information I had to study for was very broad and was not handed to us at all. The questions on the test, as seen in the artifact, were asking us to apply what we learned and not to memorize answers. While challenging, I actually enjoyed this format. I was really able to put my knowledge to the test and prove that I have learned a lot since my freshman year.
Understanding the major principles of biology is incredibly important to me as a biology major, a scientist, and an aspiring veterinarian. I would not have been able to complete my major without understanding these principles. I would not be where I am today if I had not learned about these unifying biological principles that every biologist should know. Gaining this understanding has let me gain better communication skills, time management skills and team work skills. All of which I will need to use in veterinary school. I will always take this knowledge with me, no matter what my future is. Having this knowledge will allow me to apply my love of biology to almost any situation, and with this, continue to inspire me to learn more.
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1b1W9Cul5p4AWGxGYgQYbWT9bAuFr_9cP