Vulnerability in STEM

 Hey All-

We've been reading Daring Greatly by Brene Brown over the past few weeks and it's really provided some great insight in navigating a STEM major. One of the more important topics for me has been around the vulnerability to share openly about my educational pursuits. I am a returning college student that has changed majors several times and the fear and shame around not knowing the exact career I want after graduation stalled me from progressing forward. In my 20's, I felt like the people I was in school with had their whole life planned out and I was struggling to identify a major/career so I quit. After a short hiatus from education, I decided to go back to school and try taking a few classes at a time. In my time back at school, I've had to learn to take risks, try new things, and get involved. All of this took vulnerability. I had to become vulnerable and ask for help, ask for research opportunities and be willing to hear "no" sometimes. Learning to overcome shame and fear is a daily effort for me. It doesn't come naturally and sometimes I have to convince myself to do it. But it's worked. I get the opportunity to study Black Widow spiders over the Fall 2022 semester and a Summer Internship at ASU and I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity.