iFOCUS, a week-long program for new students at Linfield, is a great way for first-year students to get involved in the sciences on campus. The program provides students an outlet to learn about different sciences taught at Linfield.

Troy Taylor, ’19, got involved by being there to answer any questions that the incoming freshmen had. He was a friend to the incoming students who had experience with the college and science life.

“This year, the iFOCUS group went to six different modules, led by different faculty members from Linfield. These modules ranged through the biggest fields in the sciences,” Taylor said.

His favorite part was seeing everything come together in the poster presentation session.

New student Mikayla Bradly, ‘20, said, “We got a head start, we got to know different science professors and had a taste of all of the science fields.”

iFOCUS students were exposed to Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math, Psychology, and Molecular Biology.

“Some students found they were interested in fields that they hadn’t previously thought about,” she said.

Bradly said iFOCUS was nice in that the students were pre-exposed to things such as the labs and professors. “It was nice to get our feet wet and meet new people.” Since her group only had twelve students they got to know each other well.

Bradly’s favorite part was experimenting with professor of chemistry Dr. Megan Bestwick.

Taylor said, “iFOCUS to me is really just an overall great experience, it gets students used to the concepts of the different sciences and gives them a small taste of what it’s like to be a researcher. It gets them ready to take on college and allows them to become comfortable a week before all of the other students which can be extremely helpful.”