Yush Kukreja Master's in Pharmacology

The month of April has undeniably been one of the most unpredictable and unexpected months of my life. It has included a constant cycle of hope and concern, between hearing that the “curve is flattening” and we could be in stay-at-home orders “for several months.” Everyone is paying attention but no one truly knows when our life will return to normal and if our lives will ever be truly back to normal. While I hold on to hope that we have some of the best researchers and scientists in the world, I know that this journey is far from over. And I am also looking forward to the day that I am a physician so I can be more actively part of the solution if a situation like this ever happens again in my lifetime. Surprisingly, this pandemic has reinforced my desire to dedicate my life to helping other people. This month has been spent focusing on myself. As I mentally prepare for beginning medical school in the fall, I am trying to make sure that I am my best self when that new chapter of m

In the month of March I volunteered at a local Speech and Debate tournament before the quarantine took effect. I spent the weekend helping high school students prepare for their events in speech and debate, as well as judge different events that students were competing in. I judge a few speech and debate tournaments every year since I competed for four years while I was in high school. It is a lot of fun to see how hard these high school students have worked to prepare their skill and do the best that they can. The speech and debate community is also dependent on volunteers to help run the tournaments. Since I relied on these volunteers for four years, it only seems fitting that I do my part when I can to help high school students continue to compete.  Alongside my volunteer work at speech and debate, I tutored some students in high school math and science. It has been a lot of fun to tutor over the past several years of my life and help students learn new topics. Ever since the qua