My first university tutor, with a long black ponytail and wearing a vintage death metal T-shirt, brandished a syringe in front of his face.
“This is the same chemical that’s used for lethal injections,” he said, and plunged the needle into the giant, wet sea urchin bristling on his other hand.
What I saw through the lens of my microscope sparked an obsession with science.Credit:
It might’ve been a fatal jab for any of the horrified first-year biology students watching on. But for the sea urchin, the chemical had a somewhat opposite effect to death. Within seconds, the creature spewed forth its frothy, fluorescent orange eggs.
With slender pipettes, we fertilised the eggs on glass slides and, over the next 45 minutes, watched a flurry of cellular activity conjure new life into being through the lens of our microscopes.
That afternoon tutorial totally sold me on science. So when the news came a few years later that tweaks to the course meant the specific major I was pursuing on animal behaviour and genetics was cut, I was devastated. What to do next?
I took a break from biology and enrolled in some creative writing courses while I game-planned my next move in studying science. But I loved the writing units so much that I picked up some non-fiction and journalism classes as well. I joined the student paper and got hooked.
When science meets journalism. Credit: Aresna Villanueva
I switched my degree to journalism, blowing my time at university out to five years rather than my planned three. But I barely cared – I was having a blast.
Changing degrees was disorienting at first. I still felt that pressure of deciding where and what to study after the HSC, a burden vastly overemphasised to the point it feels these decisions dictate your fate in life.
Why leaving behind my dream degree is the best thing I ever did
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05.02.2024
My first university tutor, with a long black ponytail and wearing a vintage death metal T-shirt, brandished a syringe in front of his face.
“This is the same chemical that’s used for lethal injections,” he said, and plunged the needle into the giant, wet sea urchin bristling on his other hand.
What I saw through the lens of my microscope sparked an obsession with science.Credit:
It might’ve been a fatal jab for any of the........
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