Nextdoor Teen Neuroscientist Faith Inello Leader, Advocate, Innovator Nahant Magazine | 28
When you are 11 years old, everything feels like a big deal. Baseball championships behind the Johnson School and hanging out with friends by the beach were both earth-shatteringly momentous to me. Jumping off the wharf for the very first time, then- a rite of passage for most Nahant kidswas a very big deal. Slowly, I stepped towards the edge of the wooden slats, unaware of my friends creeping up behind me to push me over the edge. Ice entombed my body as I suddenly realized I was flying helplessly through the air towards the frigid, unforgiving surface of the ocean. My heart raced, my eyes shut tight; I had no idea what lied below the surface and my body seemed to be rejecting the new and unfamiliar experience. Just as quickly as I had fallen into the water, my head popped above the surface of the tide, grinning wide in anticipation of another jump in my newfound favorite summer pastime. Yet, that singular experience sparked a tidal wave of questions for me about why people think and feel the things they do and how the human brain works. Eventually, I found that I had experienced some anxiety, and being the aspiring scientist I was, figuring this out led me to learn the intricacies behind how and why our minds trick us into intense moments of fear. As middle school ended and high school began, a fierce desire to help others with psychiatric conditions blossomed into a passion for neuroscience. This passion stayed mostly passive until last summer; adults always tell kids that they can’t make real change until they grow up, so getting good grades at school and excelling there seemed like the best way to ensure my future. Attending the Congress of the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists last June empowered me to start pursuing my dreams in the present. I began contacting doctors to interview them for articles on teen mental health because I wanted every opportunity to learn about the brain and how it is affected by different things. I strive to be aware of others and what they’re going through to increase the quality of my relationships and the quality of life of humanity as a whole. As someone who has experienced some anxiety and who has seen my friends grapple with mental health issues, I have witnessed firsthand the effects that can have on someone and it breaks my heart. My concern for others frames the purpose behind my career choice. I refuse to standby suffering without taking action, and by researching neuroscience and better understanding the brain, I plan to completely eradicate panic attacks and even suicidal thoughts in adolescents in my lifetime. A year ago, I went through the motions of school without a second thought, my ambition simmering under the surface of my drive and compassion for others. I wanted to make a difference and I wanted to do it in the here and now, not ten years down the road after I had earned a degree. At the same time, I knew that I would have to develop skills in business and science research to be taken seriously by either community. No one was going to hand me the information; I had to learn how to read a research paper, synthesize the claims, and use the necessary software for biomedical mapping all by myself. When I heard about The Knowledge Society, a human accelerator for teens who want to change the world through scientific discovery, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to further my research into the brain and its function- 29 | Nahant Magazine