RECAP_Afterwards

Although it has been a while since RECAP has ended, I have still been in the research process. Part of the program is writing a full research paper and now that I finished my part in the lab, I have to write up my results. I have been writing my paper, which has been kind of stressful, but I am learning the whole process.

Another part of RECAP was presenting our findings at the end of the 3 weeks. This presentation was in front of the other students, parents, and professors. I had never done anything like this before so I was extremely nervous. As I made my slides I didn’t know what parts to emphasize and which to just mention. As I tried to think of what to say my mind was always blank. Before the actual symposium I had a couple practice rounds but on the actually day, my hands would not stop shaking. I knew I didn’t want to read off of a prepared speech, so I only had ideas in my head. When I went up to do my presentation, I felt unusually calm. Then I turned around to face my audience... I wasn’t calm anymore. But I had to start anyways.

As I started the nerves started to go away. After my presentation it felt so rewarding. I had answered all of my questions and although the nerves showed in my speech because I had talked fast, I had delivered everything I had intended to. I am not sure if I enjoyed presenting, but I know that the feeling afterwards was very rewarding.

After everything, I learned that I really enjoy doing research and working in the lab. I also learned that one question leads to another and once you start, there are endless questions you want to learn more about. I want to keep researching in college so that has also been an important factor in my college search.