This fall was a great beginning to my senior year! I was finally able to move off campus, so my friends and I got an apartment. Learning to share our home has been a both fun and fulfilling experience. We all learned from the challenges together, and I now feel more prepared for living with other people in the future. Academically it was also an exciting few months. With the classes I completed over the fall, I am finished with the requirements for my Bachelor of Science in Cognitive Neuroscience. This opens up the possibilities for classes I can take in my final spring semester. Over the fall I had taken some history courses and really enjoyed them. I had forgotten how much I loved history and the humanities more broadly. I also got the chance to do some creative writing assignments which reignited my passion for storytelling, worldbuilding, and fiction writing. I am excited for the prospect of taking more humanities and perhaps even some creative writing courses in the spring. My peers and I are at a very exciting and scary part of our lives. In a few months, most of us will be done with college. For me, there is a lot of uncertainty about the future. Throughout high school I was focused on getting to college. Once in college, the goal became a lot more unclear. While I have still devoted myself to my academics and to getting the most out of my schooling, I am not certain what my next steps will be. This uncertainty is, as I said, both exciting and scary. The key for me has been getting over the fear and focusing on the excitement. Soon the whole world will be at our fingertips and, in part thanks to MVYouth, I believe we are all ready to grasp what comes next.
Jack Holmes - Brown University
How am I a junior in college? Time has been flying by, which I think is a good thing; it means I’m having fun. Along with all this fun there has also been a lot of work. This last semester was especially hectic and definitely the most challenging yet. As I begin to take higher level classes, I find the content to be more challenging but all the more interesting as well. I have enjoyed rising to the challenge and continue to find myself invested in my academics.
As of recently, one of the biggest changes to my studies has been the introduction of computer science. I am still a cognitive neuroscience major, but I have begun focusing on the field of computational methods that surround neuroscience. This has led me to taking a number of computer science courses that are out of my comfort zone. This transition has of course brought its own slate of struggles. Computer science is not known to be an easy subject, and learning to code has forced me to entirely adapt how I approach my work. Despite this, I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to dive into a whole new area of study in my junior year. The flexibility to change my goals and pivot in new directions is an amazing privilege.
As time goes on, coming home for winter break becomes a stranger and stranger experience. My friends and I are getting older, moving away, finding jobs, and many are beginning to fashion lives outside the bounds of Martha’s Vineyard. My time on the island is also numbered. There will only be so many more winter and summer breaks before I begin to start a new chapter of my life somewhere else. In the face of all this, I am left feeling grateful. I’m grateful to have grown up in such a wonderful place full of wonderful people. MVYouth is a part of this network of support that has allowed me and many others to pursue their hopes and dreams. I hope to always be a part of this network myself, supporting the future of the island’s youth.
Jack Holmes - Brown University
This fall, my school fully reopened, which brought forth a torrent of new opportunities,challenges, and experiences. Seeing my campus at full capacity, with people bustling to and from, made it finally feel like I was at college! This feeling was added to by the sports games, class events, and extracurricular activities that are also now available. I got involved with the organization of such events by becoming a member of my Class Coordinating Board. I was elected as Community Outreach Officer, whose job was to help organize events with the rest of the board, as well as do work collaborating with groups on and off-campus. Through this position, I learned more about Brown and the broader Providence community.
I also became more familiar with Providence thanks to my bike. I found myself biking all over Providence this fall. This became a great vehicle by which I could explore the neighborhoods and towns around me. The East Bay Bike path is now one of my favorite spots in Rhode Island. It provides a beautiful ride down the East coast of the Narragansett Bay and a fun day trip with friends. Overall, Providence feels much more like a second home to me now.
A great benefit of in-person classes was the chance to work in laboratories. I have pivoted from engineering, my original major, and am now majoring in cognitive neuroscience. This led to me working in a perceptual learning lab, where I was able to design and test an experiment related to the Dual Visual Stream Hypothesis. My experiment entailed working with virtual reality and laser technology to track people’s finger position in 3-D space. It was an awesome opportunity for hands-on experience with lab equipment, and next semester I will be working in a lab studying sleep’s role in visual perceptual learning. I can’t wait to design more experiments in the future as I work towards publishing my own research. This is one of the many goals of mine that I am thankful to have the support of MVYouth in pursuing.
Jack Holmes - Brown University
This year has brought about unprecedented change in every aspect of our lives. My first semester of college proved no different. Brown switched to a trimester schedule this year in the hopes of diminishing the density of students on campus, and as a Freshman, I was not given the option for a full set of classes in the fall. Instead, I was able to take one class remotely. I took this opportunity to explore my interest in medical studies by taking the course Biotechnology in Medicine. This class showed me the many routes a medical career could take and introduced me to the different fields of medical technology. During this time, I also prepared for my spring semester by meeting with advisors and planning for my first full schedule of classes. Another one of the changes that came with Brown’s move to a trimester was the creation of a summer semester that is to be attended by all freshmen. This posed a problem as anyone who knows the island understands the summer is the season for making money. To make up for this summer I am set to miss, I worked with my father this fall doing property management. The work, while helping me afford college, also introduced to me a wide variety of practical new skills such as painting, shingling, carpentry, power washing, landscaping, and nearly every other type of job that can be done on a house. While I was disappointed not getting the chance to begin my college experience this semester, I knew the adjustments were necessary to keep students and faculty safe, and I enjoyed the precious time I was given with my family. Even with all these new challenges, I will be lucky enough to attend college in the spring and for that I have MVYouth to thank. This scholarship is an invaluable tool that is giving me the flexibility to attend school in a year that is, to say the least, been difficult and tumultuous for us all.