Reflection

I have been excited to embark on my senior project since roughly the end of sophomore

year. I had heard about it from many of my teachers and we were advised to keep in mind that

the project was coming and to take mental notes of our growing interests throughout high school

and which of those could be our potential topic. I always knew I wanted my project to have to do

with psychology, but it was not until the end of my junior year that it became more specific. My

mom began receiving a type of treatment for her mental health issues called neurofeedback

therapy. Having witnessed my mom’s progress and how the treatment helped her overcome

issues that had once seemed impossible inspired me. Everyday she would come home and

exclaim to me about how cool it was and how this was the first therapy she’d received that she

felt was genuinely working. Her and I are both uncomfortable with the idea of using prescribed

drugs to help with mental illness, so the fact that it was drug-free interested me. I decided to send

some emails and ask if any nearby neruofeedback clinics could use an intern. I ended up getting

an internship working for Dr. Candia Smith and Ellen Kruse who was working on her masters

degree. Working with them and learning about neurofeedback made me realize that I not only

wanted to do my senior project about neurofeedback, but I also wanted to major in Neuroscience

or Bio-psychology in college.

I noticed that a huge contributing factor to my mental health was my relationship with

food. This is what I decided would be the topic of my senior project. I set out to learn what the

relationship is between mental and digestive health and science behind why I was feeling the

way I was for so long. I discovered that there is much less research in this area of study that I

expected. This lack of research has led to countless people being misdiagnosed for their ailments
and a lack of proper treatment provided. This further fueled me to pursue a career in this area of

study. I also continued my internship, which taught me tons about the field I intend to work in

and taught me etiquette when speaking with clients and professionals. I thoroughly enjoyed my

research and experience. However, like most I assume, I wish I had gotten to explore and

complete all parts of my project before the pandemic began. If I could do it again, I would be a

lot more organized and efficient with my research and with my project and hold myself better

accountable when it comes to deadlines. I ended up being laid off from my internship, but I

intend to either continue it when possible, or pursue ones like it in college. This project and this

experience made it clear that there is a place for me in college and in academia that I hope to fill

and it made me even more excited to pursue my interests studying Neuroscience in college.