About Anni
Hi, my name is Annaliese Divney — Anni for short! I am a Senior at Notre Dame taking AP Biology. My academic twitter is @adivney17, feel free to check it out. Here’s a little introduction video for more about me!
Becoming Biology’s Best Friend
~ End-Of-Year Reflection ~
At the beginning of this year when I chose the name for this blog, “Biology’s Best Friend,” I truly had no idea how much I would come to love biology. Working on this blog and studying bio have genuinely become some of my favorite things to do! I am very proud of how far my blog has come. As of now, I have over 25 posts and 16 followers and, although that’s not a whole lot, it means a lot to me!
Working on this blog has helped better my skills in many different aspects that will most definitely help me in the future. First, it has helped me with my writing skills. Throughout my entire school career, I have never gotten the chance to write like I have on this blog. In a sea of MLA format and formal essays, blog-style writing is a refreshing reminder that personable writing is just as important of a skill to develop and practice. Being able to write in the first person and share my opinions in a more relaxed writing style has made my writing much more well-rounded and engaging!
Second, this blog has greatly improved my video making and editing skills. Making all of the videos that I’ve made for this blog and class has made me so much more comfortable and natural in front of a camera! Granted, I still may not be 100% perfect, but the difference between videos I made before this year versus videos I make now is like day and night. I was so awkward and couldn’t make a single video without reading from the script. Now I know how to edit videos and memorize the main points I want to cover so I can say everything I want to say but not read directly from the script! If you any evidence look no further than comparing my About Me video to my Dear Future Team AP Bio video! I am so grateful for the improvements that have come from this year-long project.
Last August, I remember thinking how this blog was going to be very simple because I literally knew nothing about making a website or blog. Formatting might as well have been a different language to me. Now I can confidently say I learned A LOT! Doing something that took me an hour to do at the beginning of the year, such as adding a post link to a drop down menu, now takes me approximately 30 seconds. I know I’m not a tech expert and I have no idea how to code or anything like that, but I consider my skills much more developed than they were 8 months ago. I actually hope that I have to do something like this in college or later in life so I can show off my new tech skills!
I love how this is work that I can keep forever. At the end of the year for my other classes, I move the documents to the trash bin and throw away the papers. But this website has let me leave my permanent mark on this online community. I’ll be able to come back and revisit my work and maybe even show it off to others!
I’m finding it hard to pick one favorite post of mine because I put so much hard work into all of them! However, I did find a couple that I more deeply related to. My reflection on The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is one of my favorites because of how much I
enjoyed reading the book and watching the movie. As I say in my reflection, I think the story of Henrietta is crucially important for everyone to know and learn. Another one of my favorites was Diana Nyad’s Ted Talk about never, ever giving up. This was such an amazing talk and I have carried the message with me up until now and I don’t intend on letting it go anytime soon. I also loved all of our hands-on adventures! My Adventure at the Tide Pools and hanging out with Adorable, Awesome Arthropods were two more of my favorites!
And of course, I can’t forget my favorite Above and Beyond: Strawberry DNA Extraction! Although this experiment isn’t extremely advanced, all of the complicated subjects and lessons it encompassed helped me review and remember the content. Plus, being able to play with and observe actual DNA was really awesome (you can tell in my video that I was absolutely fascinated by it).
The most rewarding project was definitely the stop-motion video about meiosis that I made with Natalie Smith. This video took two class periods to film. And editing took an extra long time too. Being able to step back and see the end result after putting all of our time and effort into it was so amazing!
As I look back on this year I can feel myself start to get sentimental and emotional. This class was absolutely amazing and I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world. I am not sure what my future plans for Biology’s Best Friend are, but I already know that I’ll keep this site in my mind and heart. Next year I’ll be studying Global Disease Biology and Environmental Science (Suprise, suprise! Anni’s gonna keep studying bio, who would’ve thought?) at UC Davis, and if I ever do anything particularly fascinating maybe I’ll write up a quick little post about it!
AP Biology has done so much for me, from preparing me for college and a hopeful future career in biology to providing the opportunity to create an awesome website and digital portfolio to giving me a wonderful, amazing family to learn and grow with. I have nothing but endless love and appreciation for Mrs. Girard and my AP Bio family — I’ll never forget this.
Dear Future Team AP Bio…
Hi everyone, as the school year comes to an end Team AP Bio has been making videos to pass on our advice to future AP Biology generations. Here’s a little of my advice, I hope it’s helpful! The gist of it is to stay on top of assignments, use your resources, and have fun. Thanks for watching!
PS: I’m sorry the audio is so wack in the video, I don’t know what was up with my computer!😬
Biology's Best Friend 
May 22, 2017 at 6:58 pm
LOVED this page! It was super informative. I never wanted to stop reading! The layout was extremely effective as it combined facts with opinion. Her writing style draws me in and leaves me with a fulfilled and impressed feeling. It is evident that Anni put a lot of effort into this. Her passion for biology shines through her website and makes me want to become a biologist.
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May 23, 2017 at 5:46 am
Thanks for your thoughtful response and suggestions Ali! Though I tend not to be the best at making things short and simple, I’ll definitely work on trying to make everything a bit more concise. I’m so glad this makes you want to study bio, that really means a lot to me!!! 🙂
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May 23, 2017 at 5:39 am
If I had one suggestion for this website I would say to work on making things a little more concise and quick to the point.
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May 25, 2017 at 9:44 pm
Anni, I have truly enjoyed reading and watching your progress through this past year. The range and depth of the subject matter you covered is very broad and super interesting. And new to me. The pace of discovery even over this past year and your writing of those areas demonstrates the age old ethics issues surrounding science, humanity’ s understanding of the applications of that science and the questions regarding whether and how such science could or should be used and under what circumstances. Great mental munching! I am proud of you and look forward to watching your career and studies blossom.
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May 25, 2017 at 10:19 pm
And from a constructive criticism standpoint, a number of your video dialogues contained the word “um” in them. Deleting this word from your presentations and vocabulary will allow the viewers to concentrate more on the content of the subject matter. One last item that only popped up a couple times were some typos in your posts. Please always perform a spell check or reread prior to publishing.
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May 25, 2017 at 10:57 pm
I am glad that I got to share my love for bio with you. I agree, great mental munching! Thank you for the advice, I will definitely try to work on that in the future. I agree that I say “um” too much but when I’m in the moment it just slips out — it’s a habit that needs breaking. Thanks again!
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May 25, 2017 at 11:14 pm
Anni,
Wow! This is amazing! I had no idea you had been working so long and hard at putting together this site with all this great information! I only had time to view the Anthropod blog post and the “growing organs in pigs” blog post. I thought they were both great. I learned a lot about Anthropods, but I don’t think I could hold them the way you did! In the other post about the pig research — this is clearly an ethical quagmire for some of us! I’m glad that they are now starting to grow organs outside of live hosts — let’s hope that is the future so no animals need to be harmed. With you as a scientist, and being so committed to animals as you are, I’m sure the future of animals in science will be a much happier story than it has over the past century, thank God. I will visit the site again to look at some of the other posts.
I like your choice of font. It is easy on the eyes. I also like your observation about writing more informally and creatively for a blog vs. writing an essay or something more formal. I agree that one is clearly more fun than the other!
I share Dad’s observation about the use of “um” in your talks, but I know this is a hard habit to break. Sometimes we use “um” as a quick pause while our brain thinks about what to say next. It’s hard to leave that quick pause silent!
Anyway, thanks for inviting me to visit your site! I love your passion and compassion! Keep up the great work!
Mom
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June 1, 2017 at 7:25 pm
Anni, You are such a natural on camera. Excellent tips! Don’t freak out, geek out!!! Don’t cram! Rely on each other! What a gift it has been to have you in class TWICE! And to experience learning with both Divney sisters! I’ve LOVED it! I have so enjoyed watching you develop as a student and a young woman who is ready to make a major positive impact on the world. Thank you for inspiring me to search for more vegan options like vegan chocolate. That has been a delicious bit of learning for me! You have the skills, determination, dedication, creativity, curiosity and passion for changing the world. You MUST keep me updated on your adventures. Of course, I’ll be on all the socials. Congratulations, salutatorian!!!
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June 1, 2017 at 7:50 pm
Thank you, Mrs. Girard! Thank you for being an absolutely amazing teacher and role model and for introducing me to my passion and future! You will continue to inspire me for the rest of my life, and I am so so grateful that I have been able to learn so much (both about bio and life) from you.
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