Category: Rohan Deshpande

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deshpande, rohan 21“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” ~Winnie the Pooh

This quote is a yearbook staple—it showed up no less than six times in my freshman yearbook, and is so popular that my home school puts a limit on the number of people who can use it. However, before coming to Gatton, I loathed this quote. It always felt so flaky, so vague. It felt like trying to compliment someone, but only being able to throw out generic adjectives that could apply to anyone, like “cool” or “nice”. Maybe I was just an angsty teenager trying to go against the grain of society, but I sincerely thought my alumni who quoted that pudgy, anthropomorphic bear were looking back on their high school experience with rose-colored glasses. Now, with the glow of my own graduation fading away, I can recognize how true my homeboy Pooh’s words are.

If you had to condense this long-winded, sappy story of mine into one sentence, it would be this: my Gatton experience was incredible. The places I went, the people I met and the memories we shared are priceless. On Move-In Day, almost two years ago, I came in afraid. I was scared the college workload would be too much, that “real” college kids would make fun of me, that my peers would have the social skills of an unsalted peanut. Now, these fears seem innocuous. If I could go back in time to give advice to my 16-year-old self that first night, I wouldn’t say a thing. I would just laugh at past-me and leave to have fun with my friends. The joy of Gatton truly was in the journey.

The classes would be tough, but they would be far more interesting than anything I had taken before—they would be on subjects I was actually interested in, and not just something dull to round out the 7th slot in my schedule and look good on my transcript. I learned that in college, nobody has the time to care about what other people think about themselves. You could walk to Subway wearing pajama pants and Crocs and nobody would bat an eye. If it was finals week, you probably wouldn’t even be the first to do so that day. As for my class, they’re as cool as cucumbers. At the very least, they’re definitely cooler than someone who still uses “cool as cucumbers.”

It’s hard to describe Gatton—it is so much more than a group of smart kids from Kentucky. The stories I have from the past two years would make Beth’s head spin. I could talk about how I almost dropped half of a human brain while handing it off to Jeremiah in our neurobiology class, or how we found an injured, highly venomous yellow-bellied sea snake on the beaches of Costa Rica and our professor picked it up with his bare hands to store it in a water cooler overnight before releasing it. I could spend days reminiscing on my time at Gatton, but my time with those Kentucky goons has come to an end.

It’s hard to think I won’t return to Gatton in the fall, that two years could feel so long yet fly past in the blink of an eye. If someone asked me my future plans, I would tell them I plan on being that annoying guy at work who still brags about his time in high school to anyone who will lend an ear. I didn’t just make friends at Gatton, I made family. I am so happy I had an experience that made saying goodbye so hard.

Picnic with the President

October 9, 2015 | 2015-2016, Avatars, Rohan Deshpande | No Comments

Deshpande, Rohan 2By:  Rohan Deshpande

On Friday, September 4th, The Gatton Academy hosted its annual Picnic with the President. This event is typically held behind Florence Schneider Hall but was relocated due to the construction. In the backyard of Bates Runner Hall, The Gatton Academy hosted a picnic for both students and parents, providing an opportunity to meet WKU’s very own President Dr. Gary A. Ransdell. Also present were various members of WKU’s faculty and staff. While the event was casual, speakers included President Ransdell and Director Lynette Breedlove. They discussed the relocation of the Academy, addressing common questions like the estimated conclusion of construction and how an increased student body will effect class scheduling. Food was provided by the WKU Catering Group, and the music selection was supplied by an unknown individual with excellent taste. In all, it was a casual event that provided parents and students alike to meet with President Ransdell and professors outside of a professional setting.

Genome

August 25, 2015 | 2015-2016, Avatars, Rohan Deshpande | No Comments

Deshpande, Rohan 2By:  Rohan Deshpande

If you have ever attended one of The Gatton Academy’s Preview Days, the Genome program should sound familiar. This program, also known as Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES), is one of the more interesting opportunities offered by the Academy. The Genome program is designed for those interested in microbiology. It gives both wet and dry lab experience, but the long hours and demanding course load can be challenging unless you are very interested in the topic. However, if you love virology and microbiology, this is probably the best experience you can get. The Genome program is a rare experience as it requires a real wet lab that can only be provided by university-level research complex.

The Genome program is listed in WKU’s class catalog as Biology 275. It counts as a biology elective and gives two credit hours. However, that number is misleading—Genome was the most time consuming of all my classes at Gatton. On paper, it was two hours in the afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, due to the nature of the class, one may come in far more often. The goal of the class is to isolate a novel bacteriophage. This process involves taking a soil sample, drawing out the phages in the soil, isolating a single type of phage, and extracting its genetic information. This requires growing phages on bacterial lawns, which is requires a different amount of time for each phage. Some plates are ready in 24 hours, others require more than 48. For this reason, I often found myself coming in almost every day to ensure proper phage growth. However, at the end of the class, you certainly feel a sense of accomplishment, as all the time and effort you spent pays off with finding your very own phage.

Naomi Rowland, Dr. Claire Rinehart, and Dr. Rodney King are excellent professors for this class. Mrs. Rowland, who started this past fall, has been Biotechnology Center Coordinator since 2009. Dr. Rinehart has been with Western Kentucky University’s Biology Department since 1988. Dr. King has been leading this program since its start at WKU and is the 2014 recipient of Kentucky Academy of Science Distinguished College or University Teacher Award. This class, while taxing, is an excellent opportunity for one interested in microbiology and virology and if you desire wet lab and research experience, I highly recommend the Genome program.

Deshpande, Rohan 2Before coming to Gatton, I had lived an academically deprived life. I was born and raised in a rural Wisconsin town with a population of about 2,500, so the scholastic opportunities were hard to come by. Up until 5th grade, everybody had the same schedule because there were only six different classes per grade. However, in 7th grade, my family moved to Oldham County, which marked a notable improvement in the quality of education, and I was grateful. In late November of my 8th grade year, my older brother came home talking about this “Gatton place.” He applied, got in, and told me all about the experience. Based on his words of praise, I decided to apply and, fortunately, I was accepted. That day, my brother told me Gatton was an entirely different environment when compared to “regular” high school, and he was right.

My first year at the Academy was unlike anything I had experienced before. I had no parents to nag me and constant social interactions. I enjoyed staying up late talking to my peers about whatever came to mind; various conversation topics included our daily struggles with our classes, recent sports and video game standings, and anything else that caught our eye during the day. Although the courses were more difficult than my previous high school, I truly felt relaxed. If there was any school work or personal hardships I was going through, there was always someone to talk to. Looking back on my first year, I have no regrets and I hope the second year goes as smoothly as the first. I have never studied, traveled, or had as much fun as I did my first year at Gatton and I look forward to the sharing the experience with the next class.