By: Brooke Byrne, Lion’s Eye Staff Editor, bzb5183@psu.edu
The weeks leading up to the end of the semester are busy ones, especially for Rebecca Slomowitz, who is graduating this spring. Slomowitz is a psychology major here at Penn State Brandywine and, recently at the Academic Awards Convocation, she was the recipient with the most awards.
As the semester winds down, Rebecca is working on finishing up work in her classes. “Before graduation, I have a few presentations left and multiple papers to finish. I have to complete a presentation on a solution to an environmental problem for my honors environmental science course with Dr. Boudreau; a paper and presentation for the developmental appropriateness project for my advanced infant development course with Dr. Zosh; and a paper focused on a cultural group or cultural traditions for my cultural anthropology course taught by Professor Bean,” Slomowitz said. In addition to this, she is also taking six independent study credits. “It has definitely been a balancing act trying to juggle my thesis work and my course work this semester, but I think I have done an OK job.”
As if all of this wasn’t enough, Slomowitz also has plenty keeping her busy outside of her classes as she finishes up work on her Schreyer Honors Thesis investigating infant working memory and whether humans and human-looking objects are special in the minds of infants. This month, her schedule includes presentations for the honors symposium, the 2015 Undergraduate Exhibition at University Park, and two more at the exhibition of Undergraduate Research Enterprise and Creative Accomplishment (EURECA) and Sigma Xi. For some, this may seem daunting, but for Rebecca, this just confirms that she is where she wants to be.
“The process of developing and completing my own study confirms my passion for research and has given me the hands-on experience that I need in order to work toward a career in research,” Slomowitz said. With all this excitement, Rebecca hopes to enjoy a few things on campus before graduation day. “I am currently working on the Honors Organic Garden with other students in Dr. Boudreau’s Honors Environmental Science class, so I’m hoping to spend more time working in the garden now that the weather is getting warmer.”
Since it was Rebecca who wrote the original proposal for the garden after going on a field trip for an honors course that was focused on sustainability, it would be an extra bonus for her to be able to see the garden as a reality. While Slomowitz is focusing all of her graduation attention on finishing up her course work, she says there are lessons she learned here at Brandywine that she will keep in mind during the next couple of weeks.
“My mentor, Dr. Jennifer Zosh, has given me many pieces of advice and has supported me immensely in preparation for leaving school. She has helped me grow as an individual and as a researcher, and words cannot describe how thankful I am for her guidance over the past year. I think my favorite piece of her advice is that I should always be kind and helpful to others, but that I should never belittle my interests or passions because of the opinions of others,” Slomowitz said.
Rebecca says that as she finishes up her time here on campus, her mentality is excitement for the new chapter in her life and aiming to emulate the enthusiasm of her mentor, Dr. Zosh, as she begins her own work as a clinical research assistant at the Center for Autism Research within the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.