I spent the majority of my weekend typing up and finishing a lab report for my Brine Shrimp experiment, which was honestly a disaster on so many levels.

Why? Because my lab partners did almost nothing to help run the experiment properly. I was basically running it by myself, while dragging along two people who didn’t want to do a damn thing by themselves to expedite the steps, leading to our lab running about 20 minutes longer than it needed to be, with missing materials (such as the positive and negative control, which we had to borrow from another group). 

For the record, I know that science is not perfect. Experiments go awry all the time. Plus, this was my first ever attempt at running an actual experiment; one that could very well be published in some research journal somewhere, since I could not find a single scientific journal discussing the impacts of plastic on Brine Shrimp hatch rates (which was what I was trying to test). Of course, the experiment wasn’t gonna be perfect (or even very good) from the get-go, but it could’ve gone a hell of a lot better had my group mates pulled their weight. Instead, both of my group mates were distracted, frazzled, and whiny. At one point, the fresh-outta-high-school gal in my group, with actual tears in her eyes said, “Ugh, we should’ve done something easier than this.”

It took all of my strength to stay cool, calm, and collected in that moment. Not because I felt bad, but because I was so angry at her for complaining instead of actually helping so the experiment would actually go smoothly. 

Yet, I successfully held in my emotions and continued to act as positive as possible, doing my best to focus on the actual lab (which I really did enjoy doing), instead of getting bogged down by my peers. But as soon as I got home, I rage-cleaned the house for two hours until I felt better again. 

When it came time to type up the lab report (which was an individual project, thank God), I meticulously documented everything that went right, as well as everything that went wrong. I never threw anyone under the bus, but dammit, was I tempted! I can only hope that my next attempt at the Brine Shrimp experiment will go much smoother. 

Unfortunately, I have another group project to worry about in the meantime; a group project nobody except me has touched in weeks! And, I’m pretty sure it’s due next week. 

It’s a presentation project on the topic of biology in conservation and ecology. Needless to say, it’s pretty much right up my alley, and I already have a good idea of what I want to do. Unfortunately, nobody else has done or said a damn thing, even though I’ve been sending them both emails and text messages, asking them to please do something. But, it has been radio silence on the other end. 

Unlike my lab report, the group project is supposed to be a group effort. When it’s time to present our slides, each person is supposed to take on three slides (out of twelve). But, I’m strongly considering making my own damn presentation and giving my group “partners” zero credit. I’m not sure if I can do that. But, damn it… would it be satisfying. 

In the meantime, I’ve already done a lot of research and am currently in the process of compiling it into a well organized slide. If nobody speaks up about the project in the next two days, I’m gonna take over and talk about rebuilding natural landscapes after wildfires or some shit for all twelve slides. 

With Propranolol, anything is possible. 

All that said, I understand that this is a normal experience in college. So normal, in fact, that my Biology professor’s regularly been posting memes on the announcements page of our course site about the disaster that are group projects. I have to admit, I think those memes are funny, but I only laugh at them because I’d otherwise cry since I’m that student that does 95% of the work for everyone else. On top of that, while this group project is worth quite a few points, it’s not something that would kill my grade if I just didn’t do it. 

But, spiting myself to spite the group is not an option. Nor is throwing all of my peers under the bus, since I’m gonna be stuck with this class till December. 

In other words, I’m gonna just swallow my pride and do my best to work with these people. It’s ultimately good for me, after all, to learn how to politely work with exceptionally difficult people. It’s frustrating, sure. But, that’s just life. In the end, those who don’t pull their weight now will eventually get their comeuppance, which is not my job to dish out. 

My job is to just do my best at everything I do. And everything else will fall into place. 

So far, that’s worked out quite well for me. 

Now, do I feel like a good, competent student yet? No. But, if I just do my best at everything I do in college, then I’ll appear like a good, competent student to everyone else, including to my professors and whoever admitted me to CU Denver with a Merit Scholarship. 

Still, some students (like the ones I’m currently working with in Biology) like to take advantage of the “studious students” like me, which pisses me the hell off. Yet, as I mentioned, it’s not my job to give those students what they deserve. I’ve much more important things to do in life than start petty drama over a group project in community college: like master calculus (and keep my B in the class).