Kennesaw State chemistry major gains leadership skills in the laboratory

Highlights of the Role

Working in the lab, Bell holds the responsibility to restock paper towels or carboys for students in the general chemistry and quantitative analytical labs. She also prepares molecular modeling kits for students to use when working in the organic labs.

“It has prepared me so much by giving me a lot of collaboration skills, Bell said. “Learning how to work with professors or other scientists and researchers, allowing me to express my own concerns in a professional environment.”

A Chemical Balance

Bell expresses her appreciation of her supervisor and the creative freedom she grants when working with lab personnel or other professors.

“My manager will give me a task, and she’ll completely trust me to be able to use my creative skills or my perspective as a student to navigate a situation,” Bell says. “I can be myself, but I also work well in a team. I’m able to learn a lot about being a leader but also being a support system to a leader.”

Post graduation, Bell plans to work in food science as a coffee technologist at J.M. Smucker Company. That includes hands-on work with pH, Brix test, and color tests to evaluate coffee samples. Her role as a stockroom laboratory assistant has helped to give her industry knowledge of the different techniques and glassware used for conducting experiments.

Finding the Opportunity 

Bell recalls seeing posters about student assistant positions around the science building.

“Actually, in my first year of my freshman year, I actually saw postings about it being a student assistant for biology, and so I said, ‘Okay, maybe chemistry has a student assistant position,” said Bell.

Bell looked on Handshake and found the position posting as a stockroom laboratory assistant.

“They are so nice. They welcome you with open arms at Smucker’s.”

KSU provides different career development opportunities and workshops, which can be found on OwlLife. Be sure to check out the Office of Career Planning and Development and download Handshake for on-campus jobs and internship opportunities.