As an eventful summer ends and the start of yet another school year dawns upon us, all students in the Upper School see that their hobbies and interests are forming paths – some more convoluted and winding than others – that will eventually lead to career and job opportunities. Several Blake seniors share their summer experiences and class choices that have influenced their career trajectories.
Deniz Ercan-Fang ‘16 has spent the last two summers working in labs at the University of Minnesota. He most recently researched the effect of morphine injections on mice with sickle cell anemia in the Hematology Oncology Transplant Department. His study, conducted with postdoctoral students and other lab assistants, found that these morphine injections abnormally prolonged the lives of the mice with the sickle cell condition. Specifically, his summer experience has given him insight on what he may do in the future: “I know that I want to be a doctor, and having this lab experience in the summer has really shown me that I don’t want to be conducting research or doing this kind of thing.” Ercan-Fang also indicated that his choosing to be enrolled in AP Chemistry, AP Biology and AP Calculus courses were also instrumental in forming what he believes to be a solid knowledge base as he embarks on his current wish to study pre-medicine at college, attend medical school and eventually become a doctor.
Katya Tobak ‘16 spent her summer interning for the online estate sale auction site E-State Auctions LLC. She says that interning gave her insights “into business and administrative work at a real business. Knowing that I want to major in business in college, this was a very helpful experience.” Tobak assisted in various capacities as her duties included securing ads in student publications, managing administrative forms, filling out taxes and other “useful and practical business skills.” She further added: “I plan to take Economics CIS, Constitutional Law, and possibly AP Gov and Politics to further broaden my comprehension and knowledge of the business world, how economics work, and what is essential in knowing about how this all interferes with present-day countries’ markets, success and debt.”
Crey Bankes ‘16 also made use of his summer when he visited Boston Scientific to shadow engineers for a day. Bankes, a future Division One athlete committed to play lacrosse for the University of Michigan, has expressed interest in studying engineering at the school’s prestigious School of Engineering. During his time at the medical technologies giant, Bankes had the opportunity to mingle with real engineers and also assist in the Innovation Center, with its mission as “Past to Present – Focused on Patient Care.” Bankes described his involvement in the labs as “making catheters and stents. It was a fun entry-level engineering experience.” In terms of courses that he is taking to supplement his engineering aspirations Bankes said: “I’m taking Blake’s engineering course. I enjoyed the Physics class somewhat but am more interested in the field of biomedical engineering.”
