I know this may sound a little silly, but when I come back for the begining of a new semester, I sort of feel like a local celebrity on campus. I run into my students from semesters class, and I love to hear how they're doing and how they ended up doing in the class. Nearly all of them credit me with their success, which feels good, even though it's not really true. The truth that I've realized is that I am the road map that helps to navigate through the course, but it's really they who must actually make the journey. The most remarkable thing to me is seeing a student go from absolutely horrified at the prospect of taking a biology class, to comfortable or even excited by the end of the semester. Some students gain immeasurable academic confidence from triumphing over the one class they've been fearing, sometimes for years. This semester my worksheets are being printed up into a booklet. It seems silly, but I got a rush seeing the "compiled by Stacy Garrison" printed on the cover. I've often thought about what it would be like to have my name on a book, but I confess that I never imagined it would have anything to do with science. It's amazing to me, but the longer I am involved in the sciences, the more I am able to enjoy reading and writing the way I want to. I was thinking about it, and I imagine if I go into forensic science I could easily end up writing crime or mystery novels based on my experiences. Or maybe I will still end up doing science writing in some capacity, and create road maps for people, like my students, who have immense potential to understand science when it's written in normal English.

Quite honestly, this is the best job I've ever had, and it makes me a little bit sad to think that this may be my last semester, if I don't come back here for a second degree. I can't wait to meet my new students this semester. I hope I can make this class as memorable for them as my past students have made it for me.