What we do My name is Akshara Ravi from Samuel Marsden Collegiate School.
On the 26th of July, I was told I had an internship due to my success in the Brain Bee competition. Little did I know how significant this would be in helping me decide my future.
I'm grateful for the Brain Bee internship. Not only did it broaden my understanding of MRIs and their role in assisting neurologists and neurosurgeons, but it also provided me with insight into potential career pathways and helped me meet new people who share my interests.
Going into the internship, I was nervous and excited about what lay ahead. We were given an outline of the day and we were off. After learning about MRIs, with an opportunity to see a real MRI machine (that was turned off), I could even go inside and experience what it would be like in the machine. We then learnt about experiments current students were conducting at the university, such as replicating the environment inside the brain to understand things related to cell growth etc. Even during lunch, we had the opportunity to communicate with current students and understand what life was like at university and their pathway to where they are now. After lunch, we were taken to the Neurological Foundation Human Brain Bank - the only one in New Zealand - to understand the process of sending brains in, and how they are preserved. We could even see the brains of other animals - rats, bunnies, sheep etc.
Overall, the internship significantly improved my knowledge of what a career in neuroscience could look like and broadened my understanding of different possible pathways within the field. I am extremely grateful to have had this experience.
Akshara Ravi, Samuel Marsden Collegiate School
Donate