Laura Hanneke

When lab rat Laura Hanneke first met future science teacher Michelle Irving, Hanneke needed to ask Irving a favor. Hanneke suffers from interstitial cystitis (I.C.), a bladder-wall inflammation disorder that requires her to leave class frequently to use the rest room. Webster advisors recommended that Hanneke ask Irving to help her with notes she'd miss while outside of class.

In the four years since, Irving has been one of several friends Hanneke can count on to fill gaps in her notes. Yet while their paths through college continued to intersect, the two now approach graduation exemplifying the different careers a Webster science degree offers. Hanneke, the first Webster biology student to graduate with the new emphasis in biotechnology, will head to graduate school, ideally at an institution that conducts research into the little-known interstitial cystitis. Irving, a student athlete and the first Webster student in several years to double-major in biology and secondary education, will teach high school science and possibly coach this fall.

Here I am presenting in front of all these post-docs, and I'm this little undergraduate. What an experience.

Having taken a blow from fate, Hanneke determined the next move would be on her terms. Her condition—and the sparse knowledge about it—inspired her to enter the sciences, specifically biological research. "I learned at diagnosis that there's no cure for I.C.," she says. "So I decided that instead of sitting back and waiting for a cure, I wanted to get right in there and do research, try to help."

Hanneke chose Webster after reassuring meetings with Pat McCleese, director of the Academic Resource Center, gave her confidence that Webster would help keep her disability from interfering with her studies. "Pat said everyone would be willing to work with my condition," Hanneke says. "Since she was so willing to help and get letters out and let teachers know, that really fueled my decision."

Irving's route to Webster was more circuitous. A native of small Pittsfield, Ill., she enrolled at the University of Illinois-Champaign hoping for a change of pace at a large school. But a year there told her the state school was too big for her tastes. Since Webster had originally recruited her for basketball, she gave it another shot.

Michelle Irving

"It was a very good decision to transfer," says Irving, a captain on Webster's women's basketball team for two of the three years that she played. "I found it a lot easier to meet people here, and I was able to be really active—on the basketball team, working at the fitness center, tutoring, doing student activities. I'm glad I came."

Like Hanneke, Irving knew in high school that her future would lie in biological sciences. But she wasn't sure in what realm until an education class at Webster drew her to teaching. "I had considered medicine and athletic training," she says. "But teaching was always in the back of my mind. I was involved in everything in high school, and I like working with high school students. The age, the thought process, intrigues me."

And though teaching is where she's headed, Irving knows her options are far from limited. "With science," Irving says, "there's so many different directions you can go. The electives show that. I took an interesting class on cancer, and an ecology class where every week for lab we went outside, and to the Tyson Research Center. But if you don't like plants, it doesn't matter—there are just so many different things to do. That's why I like it so much."

Besides the friendly social scene, Irving says Webster's smaller setting also enriched her science education. "I really liked the small class sizes," she says. "At U. of I., it was always T.A.'s teaching us, and I never even saw my professors. Here, you know where they are, they have an office you can find, they're always around, and they really work with you."

She cites Joyce Bork, Biology Department chair, as an example. "She's been great inside and outside of class," Irving says. "When I picked up the double-major, she was so helpful in getting everything settled with the School of Education, making sure classes matched. Last semester, I was probably in her office three times a week, getting help with all the paperwork."

Hanneke, too, has reaped the rewards of the individual attention given by Webster biology professors, such as Bork and Stephanie Schroeder. "Dr. Schroeder pushes me a lot, always asking me extra questions," Hanneke says. "I feel like she's almost taken me under her wing to get me on the right path. I think she saw that same spark in me for lab research and seized it. I've seen her do it with other students, too. I always tell newer students, 'She's great, definitely talk to her.'"

Schroeder and professor Ronald Gaddis helped Hanneke land a dream spot at the Danforth Plant Science Center for a summer internship and her senior research project. "The Danforth experience was great," says Hanneke, the third Webster student to intern at Danforth. "I'm not used to being in a lab with such funding. The people were awesome. When I didn't understand something, they would take the time to explain it to me. Then I could come back to Webster and ask my professors questions about the things I did and learned."

Hanneke figures the experience at Danforth should help her in her postgraduate career. "I had to present a paper for my internship there, which was very frightening. Here I am presenting in front of all these post-docs, and I'm this little undergraduate. What an experience."

Hanneke also sees her emphasis in biotech garnering interest from graduate schools. "In interviews, when I mention it, they definitely take notice."

Irving, who is student teaching now, also believes her Webster experiences will prepare her well for facing her toughest future critics: her students. "I think when you treat teenagers with respect, they give it back to you," she says. "I've had some really great teachers, so I'd like to be that for my students."

Ryan Barke, Irving's basketball coach at Webster, is sure she'll be just that. "Michelle will make a great teacher and a coach," Barke says. "She was a role model for our other players. No one works harder on the court and in the classroom."

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