Get to know the W&M campus and community on Instagram through the eyes of a different person each week. Then, sign up to host and show us your W&M story.
The William & Mary community will come together for W&M Professional Development Week 2025, Feb. 24-28. Connect with experts from the W&M community via virtual panels and workshops to explore your career path, discover strategies to inspire your team and unlock the power of meaningful partnerships. Professional Development Week is free and open to all W&M alumni, students, parents, faculty, staff and friends.
In the ninth grade, I entered the Glynn Academy choir room. I was in a new school, in a town I’d only lived in for a year, and I didn’t know anyone. Although I didn’t know it then, that classroom and the teacher who ran it would take my interest in music and cultivate a passion that would carry me through the rest of my life. Although I have been singing for 12 years and writing music for 10, I had never considered pursuing music as a potential career option. With the support of my peers and professors, I am now pursuing a double major in music and neuroscience. I am also the Recording Manager of Barksdale Treble Chorus, a gender-inclusive treble chorus and one of the most welcoming groups I’ve found on campus. And I am currently recording and producing an album of original songs, which will be released in the Spring ’24 semester.
Neuroscience
My interest in neuroscience began in high school when I participated in the Penguin Project, a special needs theater group in my hometown of Brunswick, Georgia. I love the kids I worked with and wanted to make a better world for them. Now, I am studying neuroscience at William & Mary with an emphasis on developmental stages. I have worked in the Autism Research Lab under the direction of Drs. Joshua Burk and Cheryl Dickter, and I will be working in the Developmental Biology lab under the guidance of Margaret Saha in Fall ’23. I am also active in the special needs community in my free time, both at William & Mary and in my hometown of Brunswick, Georgia. At William & Mary, I am a member of Best Buddies, a program that pairs college students with special needs adults in the greater community. At home, I still help with the Penguin Project over the summer and babysit kids in the community. After undergrad, I plan to attend graduate school to get a masters in developmental neuroscience and continue researching Autism Spectrum Disorder and other neurodevelopmental disorders.