1. This summer I had two projects that I worked on. I started out exploring the medical field by working with a volunteer group, Edge of Africa, based in Knysna, South Africa. The trip allowed me to experience first hand what the 3rd world scene is really like and provided me an opportunity to assist those people. I worked at the local hospital every morning and was able to shadow doctors and check in patients. I also helped with a mobile clinic that drove through the township and provided free screening for HIV/AIDS and TB. With the volunteer organization I also helped to teach the local children HIV prevention through projects such as Tackle Africa, which uses soccer as a teaching outlet. I also was able to teach the local children more about recycling and other useful life skills. My South African experience really helped me become more confident about working in the medical field. I really enjoyed seeing and helping the doctors in a way that I wouldn’t have been able to in American hospitals! My second project was working with one of the biology professors at Centre. As a biology major this was a great experience to actually have my feet wet in real science. I worked with a heterotrophic plant called monotropa uniflora. Throughout the summer I used the techniques of DNA extraction to obtain the DNA of over 100 individual uniflora plants. Then I also developed primers to allow for the genotyping or sequence identification for around 10 microsatellite regions in the uniflora DNA. I utilized PCR and gel electrophoresis frequently in my research. Through this project I was also able to see what field biology is really about, something I have wanted to do in my college experience. I went with my professor to several sites in Kentucky to look for uniflora and sampled the plant from those sites. At the end of the summer we also went on a trip up to New England, an area of the country I have never been, and sampled uniflora fro a few forest there. We also went along the coast to search for beach plum, which another student was studying. I really enjoyed the opportunity to complete both of these projects and it has allowed me to further develop as a person, traveler, possible medical student, scientist, and avid nature lover.<br />