2017-2018 Avatar: Jacob Harris

The Gatton Avatars have been tasked with writing an introductory blog post, and I’ve spent hours trying to think of how to articulate this blog. How do I organically introduce something as sterile as an introduction? How do I introduce myself without sounding monotonous? And to be honest, I don’t know the answer to either of those questions. So prepare yourself—this is going to be awkward for both of us.

To begin, I guess I should talk about my life pre-Gatton. I’m from Estill County, where I was homeschooled for most of my life. I heard about Gatton at a young age and at fourteen I applied and was accepted to The Gatton Academy.

While at Gatton, I pursued several research opportunities in my area of interest: medical science. I participated in WKU’s Genome Discovery and Exploration program, and under the mentorship of Dr. King I isolated and characterized the novel Mycobacteriophage Nergal, one of 9 k2 cluster phages in the world. As a k2 cluster phage, Nergal has the capacity to infect and lyse Mycobacterium tuberculosis as well as Mycobacterium smegmatis, our host medium. In addition to my work with Dr. King, I worked in the Psychology Department’s Clinical and Applied Research lab. Here I did research involving eating disorders and the behaviors of sports fans.

I’ve also had the chance to participate in a number of clubs and student interest groups since I’ve been here at Gatton. Among these are Student Government, FBLA, Stock Market club, and GALE (a community service club).

Well, how was that for an introduction? Was it bearable? As I look back over this blog, I realize that I spent a disproportionate amount of time describing my research, but I think that’s honest. At Gatton, we become consumed. Whether it be with a particular class, or research, or a personal project, we become engrossed in something and hurl ourselves into it. The Academy’s environment encourages those violent outbursts of inspiration that send students racing for their laptops or back to the lab. Gatton encourages students to be passionate, to be possessed. Gatton encourages students to explore, to research, to discover new things about the world around them. The Gatton experience breeds independence, something that radically colors how we interact with the world—both socially and academically. That independence creates individuals who feel as though a summary of their research—the sole object of their passion—most accurately introduces themselves to readers of a theoretical blog. That independence creates individuals who spend hours writing a blog that explores the philosophical effects of the Gatton experience, rather than just simply writing an introduction.