Priti's TEA Ambassador Blog Post!

By Priti Kari

August 2, 2023

Hello!

My name is Priti Kari. I am a junior at BASIS Tucson North. I am interested in

biological sciences and look forward to pursuing a medical career. This past summer, I

participated in a summer research program, Summer Institute for Medical Ignorance (SIMI),

which aims to provide medical research opportunities to underserved communities. Through this program, I had the chance to meet and connect with my peers from various ethnic and

socioeconomic backgrounds. This experience prompted me to apply to the TEA Proposal

Ambassador Program this year, as I was excited to have the opportunity to provide students like me and the people I made friends with in the SIMI program with unique opportunities to further their passions and directly impact my peers in my local community.

Before joining the Ambassador Program, I had the exciting opportunity to have an

internship at the BatLab at the Univeristy of Arizona through the TEA Proposal. I met with Dr.

Melville Wohlgemuth biweekly to read through several research papers that explored bat

behavior in the context of how they interact with their environment. This was the first time I had dealt with an application or interview process, a professional lab environment, or an internship itself. I was grateful for the Tea Proposal to have guided me through this process and given me the space to navigate through it and grow from the entire experience. Not only did I learn about the complexities of bat behavior, but I also gained valuable communication and interpersonal skills that I will carry along with me in my academic career. I would recommend all high school students, no matter what grade or previous experience they may have, to participate in TEA Proposal opportunities as it uniquely allowed me to grow academically and as an individual, boosting a sense of confidence in me, that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to gain without the BatLab internship, or Ambassador Program.

Want to apply to the ambassador program? Learn more about the program here!