Some children shift from wanting to be a fireman to hoping to become a dentist, from teacher to artist, musician to veterinarian, trying on many different hats to narrow down the vocation they’d like to pursue. Others know what they want to do from an early age and stick to it. The latter describes Gracia Ng perfectly.
“I don’t think I’ve ever considered doing anything but science,” she says. “At this point, the question is what kind of science. There are so many possibilities.“
I didn’t know that we were going to get the opportunity to spend so much time outdoors, doing so many hands-on things.
Gracia, a junior honors student at Sycamore High School in the Cincinnati area, was pondering those possibilities last year when she received a postcard outlining Stone Lab’s one-week introductory courses available to advanced high school students.
She immediately wanted to learn more and ultimately chose to apply.
Because of her longtime love for marine biology, Gracia decided to take Introductory Aquatic Biology, a class taught by Ohio Sea Grant Extension Agent Fred Snyder. She knew a thing or two about water quality from a project she had done in middle school, but there was more to the class than she expected.
“I didn’t know that we were going to get the opportunity to spend so much time outdoors, doing so many hands-on things,” she explains. “We got to see different habitats: cold water, warm water. Then we compared what lives in each place and saw how the water quality affects the biodiversity. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of plankton.”
Her enthusiasm for the subject matter was evident, leading to growth for her professor as well.
“Gracia is the kind of student you truly enjoy having in your class,” says Snyder. “Yes, she is hard working and very bright, but she absolutely loved the work we were doing, and it showed. She asked questions that led me to improvements in my presentations, and for that she has my appreciation.”
I definitely want to go into some kind of biology now, and I have a very strong leaning toward aquatic biology.
Now that she’s back at school in Southwestern Ohio, Gracia has found that spending a week wading through water at Stone Lab had one unintended benefit: she’s become the aquatic biology expert on her school Science Bowl team, and she’s using her knowledge in Science Olympiad events.
The class also firmed up the type of science she wants to pursue.
“I definitely want to go into some kind of biology now, and I have a very strong leaning toward aquatic biology,” she admits. Though she’s hoping to go to college further away from Cincinnati than Ohio State, her week at Stone Lab has left a desire to return to the island.
“I would love to sign up for other courses and do research there in the future,” she says. “It really was an unforgettable experience for me.”
