Nia's Undergraduate Portfolio

Portfolio Organization​​

Throughout my undergraduate studies I’ve spent a good chunk of time in museums either browsing, attending classes, or conducting research. Usually in museums each exhibit, or in the case of the UW’s Burke Museum each floor, has its own unique theme and appears to be completely disconnected from the next one. But if you look a little bit closer there are an immense number of connective threads. At the Burke Museum the same rabbit and hare species whose pelts are studied in the biological collections are featured in clothing pieces of the cultural collections. If we dig a bit deeper, going beyond any single connective thread is where we find a common underlying theme of most museums which is how both the physical environment and culture shape our understandings of the world.

​

Similar to a museum’s exhibits, my undergraduate experiences appear to be a bit all over the place. Adopting the motto “if it interests me, and I have the capacity, why not give it a try!” has led me to engage in academic opportunities and activities within many different spaces that appear to be unrelated. My portfolio is made up of ‘exhibits’ that highlight learning experiences that have helped me identify and articulate my values and desires as a learner – the underlying theme of my undergraduate studies ‘museum.’ ​​

​

My portfolio is organized into three main ‘exhibits' — Natural History, Capturing Culture, Sharing Knowledge — each highlighting undergraduate experiences in and beyond the classroom and my reflections on their broader impact on myself as a student and individual. A fourth exhibit — Giving Thanks — is a small way for me to show the immense amount of gratitude I have for the beautiful people who’ve supported me along this journey. I strongly believe that my growth and accomplishments are not solely my own, but instead because of and for all of us.​

​

A Quick Walkthrough 

Walking into the first exhibit — Natural History — you feel a bit out of place as the click of calipers taking osteological(bone) measurements sounds of sporadically in the background.

Completing a Bachelor of Science in Biology and participating in evolutionary biology research has challenged me to confront my perfectionist tendencies and rethink my educational priorities. After several years of moving through coursework without truly testing my academic limits, I realized the immense privilege I hold as a college student who has been given the opportunity and familial support to delve deeply into my areas of academic interest. This realization encouraged me to seek out academic experiences that deeply challenged me, such as the honor’s organic chemistry series, not for the sake of a perfect GPA but for personal growth and the genuine joy I find in learning. It is through the experiences captured in this exhibit that I have identified both centering joy and embracing failure as a way for me honor this gift that I have been given. 

​​

The tone shifts as you walk into the next hall — Capturing Culture. The walls are filled with photos capturing everyday life and quotes from anthropologists and disability studies theorists. You feel a palpable excitement as backtrack of boisterous conversations on these topics' plays.

While at the UW, I found an academic home in anthropology, the department in which I am completing a Bachelor of Arts. I was immediately drawn to the nuanced questions anthropologists ask and the deep commitment to interdisciplinarity that defines the field. My anthropology honors thesis, which explores autistic young adults’ experiences with identity and friendship, allowed me to discover my passion for research and the power of seeing myself within my work. Through my thesis and broader coursework, I have come to recognize the importance of moving past the illusion of objectivity within research. Rather than attempting to separate the individual from the work, I’ve come to embrace the significance of actively centering a diverse range of individual partial perspectives.

​

The final exhibit — Sharing Knowledge — features screens displaying rotating presentations and small stations filled with interactive activities. Snippets of conversation and bursts of laughter fill the room, making it impossible to resist joining in on the fun.

My roles outside the classroom have helped me deepen my understanding of my own communication preferences and how I can best meet the communication needs of others. Through my various positions supporting first-year students at the UW, I learned that being a ‘good’ communicator is situational and requires adapting one’s approach to different audiences. Working with non-speaking kiddos in play-based settings further taught me the importance of not privileging one form of communication over another. These intelligent kiddos also taught me the importance of engaging deeply with others preferred modes of expression as a way to build genuine and trust filled connections. ​

​

Exhibits to Come

Sitting in interdisciplinarity has been one of the greatest joys of undergraduate studies. I truly love learning how to build bridges across fields and utilize frameworks in non-traditional contexts. Through graduate studies in population health, I hope to continue centering interdisciplinarity in my research examining autistic individuals’ experiences with health care from both a health systems and care practice lens. While in many ways I think I have found my purpose an built the skillsets needed to continue working towards it, I’ve more importantly realized that this purpose isn’t time limited so I can take the space and time that I need. I am extremely open and excited about the next few years bringing opportunities I wouldn’t have otherwise considered and increasing my involvement outside of higher education through hobbies.