The beggining

Since I was young, I have always had an obsession in learning more about everything I could. Math, sciences, sports - academic or non academic, it didn't matter. If it called my attention, I would dedicate myself to that with all that I got. In many moments, I must admit, most classes didn't attract me that mucht, and often I spent more time reading didatic books on my own than actually paying attention to the class. This atitude, of course, gave me some problems, given that I, sometimes, didn't know what it was actually being taught in class. But, because of this, I had to develop a trait which I, still today, find useful in my projects: autonomy . I have always got better results studying alone, writing and learning on my own way (and, in many cases, teaching my colleagues) rather than attending long classes.

When I finally got to High School, I still had doubts about what really attracted me. As I had always be interested in many different topics, picking just one field was difficult. When I was fifteen, I started a technical course in Environmental Studies, and the contact with the lab that this course allowed me to have made me make a decision: I wanted to follow a scientific career. Being more specific, I decided that I wanted to learn more about Chemistry . Due to this, soon after concluding High School and the techincal course, I was admitted to University of São Paulo (USP) in 2014.

My time in university - my first contact with scientific research in the place that changed me

When I got into USP, at seventeen years of age, I knew I would face the biggest challenge of my life until that point. College environment was huge, and it offered many opportunities - and I was willing to take them all. During the beggining of my undergraduating studies, I participated in something I wanted since High School - scientific research . With eighteen years old, in my sophomore year, I got enrolled in a research project in the Enzymology field. Since I would only have advanced classes in Biochemistry ater my sophomore year, I had to learn key concepts and techniques I had never really heard about to actually understand what I was doing in my daily life in the lab. With this project I have also participated in my first scientifc congress, in which I presented my work to examinators that had a broad experience in scientific research.

After two years participating in this project, I had decided that I wanted to try new things. During the following years, I got enrolled in more disciplines of the Chemistry Teaching Course and I made one of the best decisions during my time as an undergrad: I got into the basketball team of the Chemistry Institute. During my classes in the Chemistry Teaching course, I had to teach in public schools of the city of São Paulo. With this experience, I have learnt something that many years in college classes don't teach: how to deal with others, hearing them and understanding their needs. When I was preparing my classes, or before getting in contact with a new classroom, I alway had to take in consideration that I would meet people with different stories and ambitions, in a way that I knew a standandarized and low inspirational class would do no good. In the mean time, I was enrolled in disciplines of the specialization in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, always trying to keep my love for Biochemistry alive and strong..

Last, but definitely not least, I have played ,as previously mentioned, in college basketball for four years, a period that taught me important lessons. Discipline, effort, commitment, dedication and teamwork , just to list a few. If I wanted to play as much as I desired, I would have to earn it. Besides that, I have met incredible people, that made me grow as a human being. With them, I have participated in college competitions in other cities, I have helped organizing events to gather funds for the team, among other activities.

But, what about now?

After getting my graduation in Chemistry, in both Bachelor and Teaching degrees, I have worked for a year as a technician at the Institute of Chemistry of USP, as an intern, and currently I work as a bilingual teacher of Chemistry/Sciences in Beit Yaacov school. I also have great interest in the programming field, focusing in statistical analysis and mathematical models, studying them for the last one and a half year With the tools I have learnt to use so far, I currently participate in a research project in the Instituto de Pesquisas em Energia Nuclear (IPEN). In a near future, I intend to get enrolled in a Masters/PhD program in Biochemistry.