Biography

My name is Joshua Bain, I am pursuing a psychology major with a minor in biology, neuroscience, and outdoor education. I love medicine and want to become a neurosurgeon in the future but since coming to Longwood I have also fallen in love with rock climbing. Before starting my semester I had a fear of heights and never thought that rock climbing would be something I would ever do but after going with a couple friends at the beginning of the year I was hooked. Since then I’ve met amazing people and made lasting friendships. I ended up starting my outdoor education minor because of my love for rock climbing and I wanted to expand my knowledge base on everything related to it, through this minor I’m not only able to learn about climbing but much more like canoeing and orienteering. With rock climbing becoming such a big part of my life and there being no club for it, I decided to start one with a few friends that climbed with me and it was approved right before we had to leave for COVID-19.  We were able to make this happen because of the support of our advisor, Jacob Dolence, and the outdoors club who assisted us through the process.

The first semester of my freshman year went by in a flash with nothing even resembling an issue. In my citizen 110 class, we had the opportunity to present our research at the fall poster presentation, my chemistry and biology classes were a lot of fun, and my statistics class provided a nice challenge. The second semester did not end up being so nice. It started off with a class not fitting and having to go through a process of dropping it then finding another class. This all worked out in the end, I was able to take CMSC 210 with the approval of Dr. Marmorstein and Dr. Poplin, the stress was short-lived and gave me a good idea of how the processes at Longwood worked. The semester got complicated with some events in my personal life that shook my entire friend group and made it hard for all of us to focus on school. At this point in the semester, I wondered if I could keep going. With the help of my parents and the faculty at Longwood, I found a way through the darkness and a way to keep moving forward. In this time rock climbing provided me with more than just a bit of fun exercise, it was my escape system. With rock climbing, I was able to focus on just getting to the top and felt in the moment so that I was not thinking about everything else happening. There are a few individuals at Longwood that really made a lasting impact on my life throughout this turmoil and without them, I don’t think Longwood would ever feel like a home as much as it does now. Even with the second semester giving me issues, I think that coming to Longwood was the best choice and I am excited to come back next year and make even more memories!

 

Community

A community is not just a gathering of a large group of people, it is a common bond that connects everyone in a larger group. Inside the community you have many subsets, like clubs or friend groups, but what makes a community is when everyone from all the different subsets come together and become one …

Scholarship

My scholarship at Longwood started with being accepted into the honors college and from there continued into me trying my hardest in every class, going beyond learning for the test by learning to apply in the future. Some of my favorite parts of freshman year were the questions Professor Dolence would ask the class. Unlike …

Service

With the honors student association, I served along with my peers at hull springs at an animal shelter. I have been also trying to find an EMT class to become a volunteer on the rescue squad and have become a trip leader in the outdoors club.