I will start this post out with saying: UPDATE YOUR PREVIOUS MENTORS! Send us an email with your professional and personal achievements. You have been a big part of our lives and we love hearing what you are doing both in science and in life. My favorite emails to receive are from Pollock lab alumni with an update on whatever is happening. When I get to see them in person, well that is just a cherry on top!

This past weekend, my husband and I got to witness two Pollock lab alumni get married to each other! Joseph McEachon and Cassidy Hilton were both chemistry majors who graduated in 2020. Since then, Cassidy has earned her master’s of health sciences from EVMS and works as a pathologist’s assistant in North Carolina. Joseph earned a master’s in biomedical sciences from VCOM and is currently in medical school there. I am so proud of their professional success but watching their happiness and celebrating their love for one another was so rewarding. I reminisced about how both of them ended up joining the lab, how I had no idea they were dating when Cassidy joined the team after Joseph had been a part of it for a year, and how clearly they learned to work in close proximity and not get too aggravated with one another during full time summer research (preparation for marriage!). I am excited to see how their lives unfold moving forward. Congratulations to Cassidy and Joseph! Thank you for letting me be a part of your special day!

~jap

P.S. This post was approved by them.