AV Principal Fey’s daughter, Jessica Fey, came to talk to science classes at Amador Valley about her college experience and what it’s like being a science major. She currently studies at Pennsylvania State University and is majoring in forensics with a focus in biology. 

“I actually chose to major in forensics after I took Intro to Biomedical Sciences in high school. It changed my pathway,” said Fey. 

Fey talked about Penn State and the reasons why she picked her school. One of the biggest pros was that they have a good science program. The main campus has crime scene houses where students can experience drawing evidence from a crime scene, taking pictures, and collecting evidence. 

“I want to be a forensic biologist, work with DNA, maybe work with the FBI or the state police,” said Fey. 

For her first two years, Fey lived at a satellite campus of Penn state called Berks. This location was preferable because it had a cadaver lab where students could use frozen cadavers for hands-on training. 

“In our forensic classes, we studied bullet projections and glass shattering patterns. When you’re working with law enforcement you have to dumb down the science so the law people can understand and a jury can understand,” said Fey. 

She talked about the structure of science classes and the amount of lectures and labs in each class. Specific details like these would be helpful for future science majors. 

“[College] classes are a lot easier than AP classes. They have less busy work and less homework. The homework questions are about in-depth thinking, and we usually get one assignment per week to focus on,” said Fey. 

Fey also gave advice for incoming college students regarding taking classes and talking to professors. 

“In high school I took a lot of AP classes… they completely over prepared me. You don’t have to kill yourself taking AP classes in high school. Professors are very friendly in my experience. They enjoy talking to you, you can tell them what you did last Friday and they’ll enjoy hearing about it,” said Fey. 

Fey is currently a junior, and has a lot of plans for her future. Next year, she plans to apply for an honors college which will allow her to start her graduate degree at the same time as she’s finishing senior year. 

“For the honors college I actually have to do research and a thesis. For my research I think I’ll do forensic DNA analysis so I can see if I can figure out the difference between tampered DNA and non-tampered DNA,” said Fey. 

Lastly, Fey talked about how to get research opportunities and build your resume. This was of special interest to high school students because many are interested in pursuing a career in science themselves. 

“Sometimes professors talk about their research and if you go up and tell them you’re interested they will put you in their research group. One of my friends studies antibiotic resistance with our microbiology professor. I will try to find a forensics teacher next year and do research with them,” said Fey.