My finger hovers over the “Join Call” button, wondering if my cursor can feel my anticipation. I’m about to log into my first group seminar for WAGSFP, meaning that I’ll finally have the chance to virtually “meet” the other students in my fellowship cohort. Though we’ve been getting to know each other for weeks through a group chat, this will be the first time I’ll see everyone’s faces, and hopefully get to know everyone a little bit better. Nervous? Not quite. Excited? Absolutely. Ready to join the call? I click the button, and am welcomed with everyone’s smiling faces.
Just as I said in my introduction during our first research seminar, my name is Adrian Beyer, and I’m a rising junior at UofM Ann Arbor. I’m majoring in Women’s and Gender Studies and Southeast Asian Studies. I applied for WAGSFP because I’m very passionate about gender and sexuality studies and I wanted to seek our more research opportunities after working as a research assistant in the sociology department this past year. Oh, and my fun fact is that I like to rollerblade. This summer, I’m lucky enough to work on a project that combines my interests in Women’s and Gender Studies, Asian Studies, and Sociology, as I’ll be helping with research related to portrayals of sex and sexuality in Japan.
At just over a week into the program, I already feel so immersed in my research. As a full time research assistant, I really love the chance to be able to dive head first into the project. It’s been a great start, and I already feel like part of a community with my WAGSFP cohort. I’ve also really enjoyed the opportunity to work so closely with my research mentor, which is something that I feel is unique to the summer research experience. Even though we’re navigating everything online, I still feel so connected. I can’t wait to see where else my research experience will take me this summer!
More soon,
Adrian