It feels strange to be writing these reports now as a graduate, and though many things in my life have changed since I finished my degree at Columbia University last Spring, I am so grateful to have ended up where I am today. After graduating, I accepted a position as a Staff Research Associate in the laboratory of Dr. Betsy Crouch at UCSF’s Institute of Regenerative Medicine in San Francisco. The Crouch Lab investigates blood vessel development in the human brain, with the ultimate goal of creating novel technologies and therapeutics to treat brain hemorrhages in neonatal and pediatric patients. I was nervous at first about joining a biology lab because I worried that I lacked experience with the research techniques that they used, but I quickly adapted, and I have gained an astonishing amount of knowledge in my first six months of work: so far, I have improved my immunohistochemistry skills, learned to conduct experiments using flow cytometry and FACS, grown neural spheroids from primary tissue (which hopefully will someday be able to incorporate vasculature) and conducted single-cell RNA sequencing analysis on various patient samples in order to identify gene expression patterns that influence fetal neurovascular development during the second and third trimesters. The mentorship I have received from my boss and labmates has been outstanding thus far. Despite the occasional late nights spent running experiments, I have greatly enjoyed the camaraderie and support of working in a lab environment. As for the city, I have always loved San Francisco when coming to visit family, so I was excited by the opportunity to move here after graduating. I have been spending lots of time outdoors, mainly going for runs, playing tennis, or reading in all of the great parks the city has to offer, and I am starting to get used to — and appreciate — the fog that San Francisco is known for. My hope for the future is to apply to PhD programs in Developmental Biology or Biomedical Engineering, with the goal of entering a program in the Fall of 2026. Thank you to MVYouth for all that you have provided me, and I cannot think of enough words to express my gratitude for helping me to turn my aspirations into reality.