3 August 2007
Cecily Marroquin
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Dear Latino Initiatives Fund,
I am writing you
this letter first and foremost to thank you for providing me with the
opportunity to join the Research Training Program (RTP) at the National
Museum of Natural History. This experience has been nothing less than
extraordinary. With that said, I feel that the most sincere way to thank
you would be to take what I have been offered and use it to the fullest
of my potential.
Through living
and learning and simply being in the presence of such an influential
place as the Natural History Museum (not to mention Washington D.C.
as a whole) I learned of the necessities required to succeed, not only
as a scientific researcher, but also as a young woman on the brink of
her career. A few months ago when I sat down with my computer in front
of me, just as I am sitting now, and read the description of the RTP,
I could only imagine the possibility of ever being rewarded such a life-changing
opportunity. At the time I had little idea of what I could expect to
walk away with.
In my cover letter
I vaguely described my expectations as an opportunity for "the
growth as a future scientist that I (believed I could) obtain by participating
in this program". Looking back at the past couple of weeks, I see
that I have gained so much more than that. I have worked with the most
brilliant natural history scientists of our time in top of the line
facilities; I have seen what seems like all the world's creatures, plants
and peoples within the endless rows of specimens; lastly, I have worked
on a project that could one day lead to the recovery of a lost piece
of human history: the epidemiology of the Old World.
As anyone would
say, it was a chance of a lifetime. Undoubtedly for me, it was the chance
that will shape a lifetime. I sincerely appreciate all that you have
done and all that the experience (that you made possible) will continue
to do for me and my peers, past, present and future.
Sincerely,
Cecily Marroquin
Research Training Program
Class of '07