When I think back on my time in Washington, D.C., for the 2026 CASE Workshop, what returns to me first is not a talking point, or a statistic, or even a room. It is motion. It is the feeling of walking being surrounded by students from across the country who had come for the same reason: to understand how science survives in public life.
Right now, most of us are tunnel-visioned on solving a frontier scientific problem. However, the moment you glance up from your microscope, algorithm, or chalkboard, you realize that this myopic luxury is sustained by a delicate flow of federal funding, agency agendas, and perpetual grant writing. We call this hidden backbone of modern science “the lifecycle of a scientific idea.”
When I went to Hawai‘i with the Caltech Y, I thought I was signing up for a meaningful spring break experience, a chance to see beautiful places, learn something new, and meet people. What I did not expect was that Hawai‘i would touch a wound in me I had carried for years — one I had almost stopped trying to name.
7:09 PM. The Walk Home. The heat hits me like a wall when I step outside. The medical center is still busy, but I feel like I’m moving through a different dimension than everyone else.
All names and identifying details in this narrative have been altered to protect privacy. The scenes represent composite experiences and reflections from critical care shadowing, not specific individuals or cases. Dialogue is paraphrased and not verbatim.
Time to review another four coffee shops featured in the 2025 Pasadena Coffee Passport! Last issue, I reviewed Rosebud Coffee, Copa Vida, Republik Coffee, and Jones Coffee Roasters. Since then, I have gone to another four coffee shops of the fourteen shops in the passport.
On April 21st, 2025, Pope Francis passed away. His successor is Pope Leo XIV, whose papacy began on May 8th, 2025. Pope Leo was a close advisor to Pope Francis.
At first glance, Dr. Loraine Lundquist might strike you as a scientist with her head in the stars. After all, she holds a Ph.D. in physics from UC Berkeley and once helped launch a satellite to study the Sun’s magnetic field. But spend an hour with her, and that’s precisely what we did during the recent SASS Lunch hosted by the Caltech Y—and you’ll quickly realize that her gaze is firmly grounded on Earth, with a heart set on building a more just and sustainable future right here in Los Angeles.
Hello everyone, my name is Camilla Fezzi, and you probably know me, always running around, without any free time, and I am kind of recognizable because of my Italian (fashion style) 😜. I’m a freshman at Caltech, with the goal of double majoring in biology and chemistry and dreaming, one day, of becoming a doctor and researcher in the oncology/neuroscience field. But before I am any of those things, I am Italian—a daughter, a sister, a friend. I grew up beneath the Verona sun, in a place where the dinner table is sacred and where family is the compass that guides everything. I have always known warmth—of home-cooked meals, of laughter echoing through ancient streets, of a mother’s arms around my shoulders. I know what it is to feel safe, to take fresh water and a doctor’s appointment for granted.
