My first semester at Columbia University was exciting and provided me with lots of personal and academic growth. Despite the University’s shift to an online educational modality, I still chose to move to New York City for the semester and lived in an apartment near campus so that I would still be able to transition away from living at home. As for my classes, I enjoyed being able to take a combination of Columbia’s Core classes and prerequisite courses for my major and for medical school. In my required University Writing course, I enrolled in a section that focused on readings in Medical Humanities and gained experience writing research papers about essays and artwork by authors and artists like Johanna Hedva, Susan Sontag, and Frida Kahlo. This class ultimately reshaped how I view medicine and illness, and solidified my desire to pursue a career in healthcare. In addition, I also began my STEM education at Columbia with General Chemistry, which challenged me to adapt to learning difficult content in an online environment while maintaining proper study habits and time for self-care. Outside of academics, I have also become involved in a few organizations and activities on campus. I joined the Operations Committee for Columbia Synapse, an neuroscience education organization that focuses on community involvement and advocacy for people suffering from Traumatic Brain Injuries. I also continued to pursue my interests in medicine and literature by becoming an Associate Editor for Columbia’s Journal of Global Health, a publication that features public health research from student scientists from all over the United States. Lastly, I have also been taking advantage of free student access to New York City museums, and have already explored the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA with my roommates and friends. Overall, this semester I have pushed myself to appreciate my new surroundings and to seek out many of the new opportunities that are available to me. My unique education at Columbia would not have been possible without MVYouth, so I am grateful that this organization has allowed me to follow such an enriching educational journey.