Matches, Conferences and Running in Circles

Location: Biloxi MS

The Mississippi Academy of Science (MAS) meeting is an annual meeting comprised of presentations, exhibits, workshops, and addresses that are grouped into divisions. These divisions include agriculture; plant sciences, cellular, molecular, and developmental biology, chemistry and chemical engineering, geology and geography, health sciences, marine and atmospheric sciences, mathematics, computer science and statistics, microbiology and immunology, physics and engineering, psychology and behavioral neuroscience, science education, zoology and entomology. I was able to attend this conference and meet a lot of influential people who have each accomplished their fair share of amazing successes, and not only talk but also present a poster. I got to talk to people and learn to present in front of a crowd, which, without practice, no one is good at. Though it was two long days and a couple thousand steps, it was worth every moment, every step, and every conversation, even though my feet were very sore by the end of it. Places and events like these show you how smart my peers, even in different universities, are and what we are all accomplishing, but also what we could all achieve together if we chose to work together. While I was at the conference, I was also able to make some friends, especially from my department and from schools like Mississippi State, but also with some people from some summer programs, too. This was a great chance for me to make connections in places where I could potentially go or just to have connections in places with more resources that I could potentially use in my future.

So far in the tennis season, we have already played 20 matches, with another 5 to go it is amazing how fast time flies. Though we have all had our ups and downs, my past couple of matches have been better. I won one, was winning another one, and finally, this past one, though I lost, I showed my strength for the first 3 games, and what I am capable of. This team has come a long way from where it was, but it also has a lot of room to grow. We don't all trust each other as a group, which is important when it comes to being a team. We all fight for ourselves as tennis players do, solo on the court and solo in our grinds, but when it comes to D1 tennis, college tennis, when we all get on the court its for each other, for the school, coach everyone, not just ourselves. It is something that this team hasn't learned, hasn't accepted and are defiant to see, for some not everyone. I am confident as always that they will learn, it might not be this year, possibly next year but hopefully we will be able to win the title while I am here. Despite what has happened we need to keep moving forward and now focus to what is to come. This weekend we will be traveling to Montgomery, Alabama to play against 3 conference teams. Grambling, Southern and Alabama A&M. So while I am both excited to play again, I of course, am nervous. But we will see how it goes!

Thats all for now but I hope I'll be back soon with more updates!

Thank you all for reading!