Throughout my time at Georgetown, I’ve spent countless hours in the research lab, developing as a student and as a scientist. While I will remember these lessons after graduation, I would not remember those hours so fondly or have learned so much without the guidance of biology professor Maria Donoghue. While graduation is certainly a time to celebrate our own accomplishments over the past four years, it should also be a time to recognize those individuals who have supported us and guided us toward these accomplishments, a time to remind ourselves of the challenges that we faced and the people who helped us to overcome them. For me, that person was undoubtedly professor Donoghue. When I met her as a young, naive freshman, still unsure of myself and what I wanted to do with my life, she took a chance and invited me to join her research lab during my first semester. I knew little about developmental neuroscience or conducting lab research, but she taught me how to thrive in this foreign world and how to ask and answer complex scientific questions. Under her mentorship, I’ve spent the past four years, summers and all, in Reiss 334, tucked away behind the clear glass doors that look out onto the third-floor lobby. It was at the bulky gray tables and awkwardly shaped chairs out front that I attended weekly lab meetings, read scientific articles and got to know the other members of my lab. It was at the once-white benches — now gray after years of use — that I conducted my first solo experiment, that I dissected my first mouse, that I fell head over heels in love with neuroscience and research. Although my study of science was incredibly formative in and of itself, it would not have been nearly as meaningful without the personal element of my relationship with professor Donoghue. Through her generosity in sharing pieces of her own life, whether that meant an invitation to Thanksgiving dinner with her family or a story about her time in graduate school, professor Donoghue helped me navigate the waters of college and answer the tough questions about what comes after. Conversation topics with her frequently included fashion, family, religion, healthcare, literature, marriage, politics, relationships and, when there was nothing else to talk about, neuroscience. Through these long talks, I found a role model. In her, I see the kind of woman that I one day hope to be: a rigorous scientist, a loving spouse and parent, a thoughtful friend and a fierce and courageous individual who makes a powerful impression on every person she meets. My relationship with her transformed not only my approach to science and research but to the world in general. Hyperbolic as it may sound, without her mentorship, I would be a very different person today. I know that each person graduating this weekend has been impacted in some way by another member of the Georgetown community. It may not be a professor and the impact may be entirely different, but each of us has encountered someone who has challenged our perspectives, who has pushed us to change, who has shaped us into the scholars and leaders we are becoming. Whether these people are friends, professors, administrators or mentors, I hope that we each find the time this weekend to thank those who have helped us become the men and women who will walk across the stage on Healy Lawn this Saturday. Wardah Athar is a senior in the College and a member of the Donoghue Laboratory of Cortical Development.