Biography

My name is Bethany Farah and I was raised here in Phoenix. I have a big, loving, close-knit family. My parent's have three biological children, my big brother Troy, me, and my baby brother Garrett, and have also been foster parents off and on since 1997 or so. In 2001 the five people I now know as my siblings came to live with us permanently, making eight children and two adults all together.

I feel incredibly blessed by how loving and supportive my family is. They have always encouraged me in my field of study and politely listen as I gush about the intricacies of insects or what-have-you. Garrett and I talk about nerdy science articles and Dad sometimes catches bugs with me, which makes me very happy.

As you can imagine feeding so many children was a daunting challenge for my parents, so my Mother helped start up a food bank called Fishes and Loaves that is still operating today. Every Saturday she has people drive to the different Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and the farmer's markets around the Valley to pick up any unwanted food and drop it off at a local church. Generally these are edible food items that have expiration dates that expire soon, have broken packaging or are slightly 'squishy'.

Once at the church, the food is placed out onto tables or in coolers and people come and take what they know they can eat quickly before it becomes inedible. Garrett and I both help every week, packing up any unused food for another church, cleaning and moving the large ice chests and setting up tables for the church's Sunday service. We do this because otherwise Mom does all the heavy lifting and ends up hurting herself. Seriously, its happened like twice where she was out for months because she tore a ligament.

I've always been a curious person and a scientist at heart. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of when I would stand in the bathroom and mix together my Mom's shampoos, creams and perfumes just to see what would happen. Often very little, other than making a mess and Mom irate. This internship will give me the opportunity to mix more reactive chemicals and answer even more sophisticated questions than those I have ever had the chance to in the past. I'm excited to be able to do some lab work and learn more about my particular skills as a biologist.

These blogs will also be a good tool for me to practice meta-cognition. If I'm required to blog every week about what I'm think about my project and why it will train my brain to think more about thinking in general. I think this will be a valuable skill to learn in my career as a student.

Lets get started!