08/03/2025 – Purdue Bacterial Genomics

The End of the Beginning

Mere days ago, it felt like my experience here would never end. From going to lab after dinner, only to leave at dark; to staying up making memorabilia, cracking corny jokes with friends; to grinding our final research manuscripts under a tight deadline; the familiar environment we curated truly seemed like my new normal. Even though that was all about to change in a few hours, my cohort made the most of the time we had left. 

The morning we were going to leave, everyone celebrated by having our one last all-nighter together. Well, except for Andrew. He mistook Binqi’s lap for a pillow.

Figure 1: Andrew following the orders of his sleep-tracking watch.

The rest of us did all sorts of things, ranging from yummy to a bit scary: like making “people-tables”, cooking (because we LOVE eating), and signing each other’s shirts. Thanks for the design, Sally!

Figure 2: Jonah, Ryan, Sepandar, Oliver, and Surya making a people table. Not included: Ryan screaming while Surya pulls on him for more stability. 

Figure 3: Nicolas, Shreyashi, and Ryan frying plantain in butter (the oil disappeared 😢). They were so good with sugar on top of them.

Figure 4: Abigail and Oliver tweaking as Ryan observes in fear.

Figure 5: Purdue Bacterial Genomics – rather, my favorite people – ready to sign each others’ shirts.

Afterwards, I went to the firepit outside of the Honors North building to hang out with some of my friends from Biochemistry. Their cohort was singing songs while their Academic Director played the guitar.

Figure 6(a,b): a) Me with Julie, Elin, and Mcllyn. b) Julie dialed into my camera while I captured the guitar-ing.

After some more singing, we took a field trip back to Genomics so Julie could take a picture with Binqi. Fun fact: they go to the same international school in Singapore!

Figure 7: ✌️

We went back to Biochemistry’s dorm floor to check out the happenings, and I found some more of my friends (SNAG forever). They were watching Squid Games together, trying not to fall asleep. I opted out of joining, as I’m unfortunately deathly terrified of gore.

Figure 8: Lisa and Ta’Lia on the couch, locked in on Netflix. 

After this, I went back to the Genomics floor to ensure I spent as much time as possible with everyone. We hung out for a little longer, playing Paranoia (as our TAs listened to our jokes in horror) until our TAs wanted us to head out at 2 AM.

Figure 9: The guys waving good night to the girls for the last time. 😕

The guys headed back to North and hung out. We finished up our packing, then got out our pool noodles to play some games (which will stay a secret of Honors North’s 4th floor 🤫).

Figure 10: Landon, Josh, Samuel, Ryan, and Josiah hanging out in my room as I packed. I may or may not have been the last person to finish 😓

At 4AM, my Biochemistry friend (and favorite Brit) George called me saying that he was leaving. He had the earliest flight, and his Site Director had to drive him to the airport. As he was the last SNAG member, I accordingly raced downstairs to ensure we could say our goodbyes. As we were saying our final words, his entire cohort came outside to say goodbye to him. It was honestly hard to watch the crying, but I knew it only reflected how much everyone cared for each other.

Figure 11: Biochemistry group hug. Love you, George!

After I watched him drive away, I headed back to my floor and silently finished up packing while my roommate Nicolas slept. I fell unconscious the nanosecond my head hit my pillow.

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When I woke up, my friend (who goes to my high school!) Surya greeted me in the bathroom with a water gun. I still have no idea where he got that from. 

After packing up all my toiletries, I took one last look at my empty dorm room. It felt so alien seeing my room in such a barebones condition; I pondered a bit on how it came full circle since I arrived.

Figure 13: My friend Josiah posing with my roommate’s empty bed. 😞

The next few minutes happened so fast. We packed our luggage on the bus taking us to the airport, said our goodbyes to the faculty and people driving home (which was so difficult), and tried not to cry too much. We failed on that last one a bit.

Figure 14: My friends and our bracelets. Love you JUJAS 💜

Figure 15(a,b): Participants getting clipped.

On the way to the airport, I watched some F1 with Alex (go Ferrari!), mourned Josiah with Serra (he drove home), and indulged in my cohort’s inside jokes around 6 or 7 more times. 

Figure 16: Alex grinning while locked into his F1 game. Serra and I tried to halt the waterworks in the meantime.

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Getting to the airport and actually saying my last goodbyes was one of the hardest parts of this program. The concept of saying goodbye to the people who defined the last 5 weeks of my life was incomprehensible. 

Saying goodbye to my labmate and SSP day 1, Serra, really hit me hard. I got some Josh Oh support for about 30 minutes afterwards. 

Figure 17: Calibrating my chemostat’s stir bar was nothing compared to my last hugs with some of the kindest and most caring people I’ve ever met.

I left about an hour after Serra, waved away as our see you later?s filled gate A12 and after a plethora of hugs. I thought I’d be productive on my flight and reflect on all my experiences at SSP, but I ended up falling asleep before we even took off. Not really sure how I managed to do that, to be honest.

Figure 18: Half-asleep me capturing my goodbye to Indiana before crashing again.

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Now, back home in Michigan, I’m writing this while lounging on my comfy couch for the first time in 5 weeks. It’s so hard to believe that I’m home just hours after cooking in Honors South, or after trying to balance while my friends jumped and turned the entire elevator into an earthquake simulator.

I’m so thankful for my experience at SSP this summer. I could have never predicted how transformative this program truly was before attending. Thank you to all my friends, TAs, and faculty for the cultural, social, and academic enrichment you provided. You truly challenged me in the best way to become the best version of myself.

Bacteria evolve under selective pressure in the presence of antibiotics.

You all showed me how we grow resilience in challenging environments, becoming immune to all kinds of obstacles.

I’d like to leave you with a reminder, which I hope will bring all of Purdue Bacterial Genomics back to our glory days:

Raise your words, not your voice; for it is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.

With warmth and gratitude,

Uche

Figure 19: 2025 Purdue Bacterial Genomics. 🙂

Uchechukwu

Hey hey! My name is Uche, and I’m from southeastern Michigan. I’m currently interested in the intersection of public health and medicine, and intend to become a physician in the future. In my free time, I enjoy reviewing albums, gaming, and learning flute music.