Jared gray, one of our 3 lab assistants is a rising senior at Montrose High where he also plays saxophone for the school’s marching band. As a Pinhead Internship recipient for 2017 he was placed at University of Arizona to do research in Dr Jonathan Overpeck’s paleoclimate research lab. We talked to Jared to get to know more about him and how science research has been going so far.
Can you please introduce yourself? Name, science interests and maybe hometown?
I am Jared Gray, from Montrose Colorado. As I’m sure you know, I’m a rising senior at Montrose High. I am interested in Physics, Chemistry and a little bit of Biology. As for other interests, it’s mainly marching band. I play alto saxophone.
Why did you decide to do paleoclimate research?
Well it was mostly because Pinhead Institute was having trouble on where to place me for my internship and so they ended up putting me at University of Arizona with Dr Overpeck who an intern stayed with last year. I applied for the Pinhead Internship because I thought it would help me figure out if I actually wanted to be a scientist, what type of scientist and I figured it also looked good for college applications.
What is the Pinhead Institute and how are they involved in placing you here and making sure you get the most out of this experience?
The Pinhead Institute is funded mostly from donations, I think. They pay for high schoolers to do mostly science related internship at colleges and universities. It’s mostly STEM based and it’s only specifically for 12 districts on the western slope of Colorado and Montrose got added this year.
And do you think being here has helped you figure that out? In terms of clarifying your interests more?
More so, I definitely know more about how things work and this is also my first real job so that’s a learning experience as well. As in working 8 hours a day is a struggle.
Have your research work expectations been met? In terms of the skills you were anticipating having to learn and responsibilities etc
Well I watched another intern’s presentation and she was also a Pinhead scholar here last year, and she talked about cooking dirt (LOI analysis). So I was expecting to be doing that and that’s what I spent most of my time doing, so I guess my expectations have been met.
Has this opportunity been helpful in terms of giving you a deeper understanding of paleoclimate related things?
I don’t really plan on going into this field. I was just mostly looking for lab experience and I feel like that’s what I got, which is good.
What is the biggest takeaway for you from this experience? Especially seeing as this was the first time you were away from your family and this was your first real job.
I learnt that working 8 hours is way longer than I expected. *Laughs. Interviewer joins in because she too can relate* I have one more hour. Anyway, there wasn’t much of a transition in terms of being on my own but I get used to things very easily and I adapt very well.
If you got a chance to do research again, what kind would it be, if you do foresee yourself continuing on with it?
Definitely something Physics or Chemistry related. I am not sure what specifically though,I guess whatever is in demand at the time.
Whatever is in demand? What are you passionate about?
Hahaha! I am passionate about science and making money. Gotta make money.
What were some of the unexpected challenges you had to deal with?
The heat was unexpected. Biking 6 miles upslope was also unexpected and hit me very hard. I only did that once but it was bad enough for me to never do it again. Working 8 hours…..Hahaha! My hours changed a bit and so once Garrison came back I began working double the number of hours.
So you are leaving to go home soon, what are you looking forward to and what’s the first thing you’re gonna do?
See how my puppy reacts. Well she is not a puppy anymore but she still acts like a puppy. She is, I guess 3y/o. This is the first time I’ve been away ever and I want to see how she will react because I always see her attacking my brothers when they come home. It’s gonna be fun to see how she’ll react.
Good luck with your last year of high school and with all your college applications Jared!
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