Name: Fleur Uittenbogaard
Neuroplasticity: Experiential Learning
Neuroplasticity is a concept in neuroscience that refers to your brain's ability to strengthen or weaken synaptic connections in response to internal or external stimuli. It's literally in the name: your brain is "plastic," able to restructure, grow, and reorganize. I like to view one of the main drivers of these changes (the prominent external stimuli) as my experiential learning activities. This is where I was able to learn outside of the classroom, pushing myself to grow and change in unexpected ways.
Scan Design Foundation Innovations in Pain Summer Research Program
I completed my first formal experiential learning activity in summer of 2022. I had the amazing opportunity to partake in the Scan Design Foundation Innovations in Pain Summer Research Program. This was 9 weeks of paid, full-time research. You can see the completed application and final reflection on the top right.
I spent the summer working in the lab of Dr. Ben Land. This was a really amazing opportunity to get to know him and his research more, especially because he is a close collaborator of both Dr. Stella and Dr. Bruchas.
I worked on a new project that the Land lab was piloting, focused on CBD and Terpenoids as a potential new treatment for chronic pain. What made this experience unique was that it was my first time working on a project that was just starting. This meant that I got the opportunity to take part in the brainstorming, trouble-shooting, and piloting of new experiments. It also meant dealing with a lot of confusing and at times underwhelming data. However, this was an incredible learning opportunity. It showed me how collaborative this process is, what to do when things go wrong, and how to handle unclear results. I think that this experience will be an incredible asset to my future grad school experience.
​
The summer culminated in two presentations-- one poster presentation at the 2022 UW Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium, and one ten minute oral presentation for the Scan Design Foundation board of directors. You can view both presentations on the right.
Academic Services Student Assistant and Peer Advisor
My second formal experiential learning activity is working as the Honors Academic Services Student Assistant and Peer Advisor.
After one of the advisors left early in the 2022/23 school year, I was invited to be a peer advisor to help the Honors staff with the advising workload. It has been such an amazing experience. I've learned so much about student support, about the inner-workings of academic programs, and about leadership more generally.
​​
However, beyond what I have learned, one of the highlights of this experience has been the people. I got the chance to work with one of my good friends, Wien, pictured a few times on the left and in elsewhere in my portfolio. This has been so much fun and makes working not feel like working. I also got the opportunity to get to know the other advisors, Nadra and Aley better, which has been a joy.
Another moment that stands out to me was getting to go on the peer educator retreat this year as staff. Despite being a peer educator three times, I was only able to go on the retreat once because of Covid. So getting the chance to go again, and this time from a very different perspective, was so much fun. I feel like I got to this amazing new cohort of peer educators so well. It also filled the void of not being a peer educator in the spring for the first time in my four years here (which I was really dreading). I also got to work closely with Nadra for this which again, was a ton of fun.
​
On the left you can find my application and a few artifacts from my time as a peer advisor. I will miss everyone I've worked with so, so much.