Nooriyah Doriwala ’23 Read my bio!
By the time I reached the last class of my day, I was dead on my feet. Walking around school, saying hi to people in the hallways, getting introductions from teachers about them, the class, and how “strange and wonderful finally being in person was” – was exhausting.
But I really wouldn’t have it any other way.
That day I floated on cloud 9 through calculus, literary explorations, French and other classes. Getting to put faces to names, and walking to a new class each mod was much more satisfying than switching to a new zoom link.
But alas, by the time I arrived at my last class on my first day as an on-campus junior at IMSA, I just wanted to take a very long nap.
Until my teacher began talking.
She described complicated labs, and the rough process of breaking apart proteins, changing systems in the body and predicting the pH of solutions.
I was suddenly wide awake. Was this real?!?! Could I really unfold a protein and see scans of its structure? Could I really illustrate the building blocks of the body?
From the first day of class, I knew BioChem was going to be my favorite. Despite being at the end of long days, it always gave me energy and sparked questions that would lead down rabbit holes, roping in passing by students and teachers. The class and my amazing teacher reminded me why I choose IMSA in the first place: the opportunity to explore.
As the semester progressed, the class only became more engaging. I could suddenly see the applications of our worksheets in everyday life. After a meal in the cafeteria, I couldn’t help but think about the metabolic pathway my body would be used to create the energy I would need for swim practice later in the day.
Even more, my BioChem class introduced me to some of my best friends today. Who would have thought that memorizing amino acid structures and where they fall on the pH scale makes for a good bonding activity?
Coming to IMSA after being virtual for so long was tremendously exciting, but not fear-free. Being welcomed and inspired by IMSA’s classes, faculty, and students was the reminder I needed for why I chose IMSA, and why I stick around when things get tough.
Long story short, you might come to IMSA for the classes, but you stay for the people.
