Once I had finished the course BME201, I instantly knew that I wanted to be a TA for the course. Sophomores in biomedical engineering will take this cell and molecular biology course that centers on biomedical engineering techniques and theory; it is usually the first course in the major that students will take. Students will learn everything from the life of a cell, to the complex techniques of creating a transgenic mouse to express a desired gene. After completing the course and seeing what kind of experience my TA for this course had, I figured that I should at least try for the position by the time I become a senior just as a useful experience. In reality, it has served me much more than just being an useful experience.
This was certainly a decision I made where I went out of my way to add something on to my already full workload. I predicted the awful semester I would be having right now, but I went ahead and applied and accepted this TA position anyway. There are many things that drew me towards this position: the professor, the material, the interaction with students, and the opportunity to teach. The professor for this course is one of my favorite professors here at Penn State, and probably one of the most intelligent professors that I’ve had. He immersed himself in the material so well that he does his lectures without notes and barely any text on his PowerPoints. This type of performance motivates me to immerse myself into the material so I can one day become an expert like him.
By far the best thing about this position is being able to interact with the students and gain teaching experience, however. As Dr. Spanier said to our class about teaching, it is pretty much a live performance and the professor or lecturer is essentially a performer. He claimed that the performer inside of him was one of the reasons he loved teaching, and I definitely see his point. While I have not taught to the extent he has, it is truly a wonderful feeling to stand up in front of however many people it may be and give a lecture, or open a question and answer session. Since this is really only my first time doing this, there has been some difficult moments where I wasn’t able to answer a student’s question fully, but I feel that can be improved upon with time as I continue to get exposed to the field of biomedical engineering with each year I complete.
One aspect about my life/career that I wish I could change is my certainty about what I want to do with my future. Although I am a firm believer that the path will work its way out and I’ll be fine as long as I work my hardest, I would love to just know what I am destined to do for the majority of my career. Right now that path is going towards becoming a physician. However, I’m not going to rule out the possibility of teaching one day, whether it’s in medical school or for an undergraduate program, because I know it is a great way to support the younger generations and keep society moving forward. Regardless, while this position does take up a lot of my time where I could be studying or having fun with friends, I have no regrets. Now I just hope that I was as useful for the students in the class as I set out to be!
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