St. Lawrence has provided Nicole Beers ’13 with an abundance of experiences, including the knowledge and coursework for medical school.

A member of the Beta Beta Beta National Biology Honor Society, she had the opportunity to collaborate one-on-one with a faculty member and perform biology research as a University Fellow in the summer of 2011.

Her research, “Speaking of Smells: The Relationship between Describing Odors and Memory Recognition,” was accepted for publication and presentation at the annual conference of the Association for Chemoreception Sciences.

“Presenting at the conference allowed me to gain feedback from professionals,” she says. “It was a great experience to professionally present and communicate scientific information.” The president of the Pre-Health club, she adds that the biology department sponsored her to attend the conference.

“I gained a first-hand perspective of what researchers must consider when conducting a study,” says Nicole, who is also a St. Lawrence EMS crew chief. “Biology really attracted me because it allows me to understand, or at least attempt to understand, how life functions,” she says.

Nicole, a tutor at the Science Writing Center, has had her artwork published in the University’s literary magazine, The Laurentian. Her favorite class has been Cross Cultural Healing because it exposed her to ophthalmologists, Reiki healers, shamans and exorcists, who shared their techniques.

“St. Lawrence professors encourage students to think critically about material and make it applicable to life,” she says.

--Pete Harrison ’12