Support to pursue dreams

Many parents of participants attended too. Tom and Elizabeth Weiland, parents of student Tianna Weiland, traveled from California to watch their daughter and her peers present in MURALS.

“She’s been working really hard on this research, and we’re really excited for her because she has this dream, she wants to go to med school,” Elizabeth Weiland said. “From a parent perspective – we’re not doctors – how would she get into med school? How is she going to find these little tricks and tips and all the advice that she is going to need to get there? So that’s where MURALS came in.”

“It was just nice to see it really come together,” participant Linh Bui said. “In the back of my head, I was like, ‘Whoa, I’m actually presenting something I’ve been working on for a really long time.’ I felt really good about it, even though I was super nervous at the time.”

Delaney Dunlop added, “I was super nervous going up there, but then I realized that no one knows this research better than I do. So l just did it.”

“I really felt like they gained something from the work I created, so that was the most important part,” Jevon McKinney explained.

Another participant said the experience helps students become more comfortable with presenting to a group.

“This is such a great opportunity to practice skills, oral presentation skills, public speaking,” Bemnet Tefera said. “You learn a lot, and it really helps with nervousness around presenting. You get to research your own topic, which is awesome on its own, and you get to present your passion, basically.”