Dear Lab

Dear Lab,

Coming into the lab, I worried I wouldn’t fit in.

Girl straight out of Nigeria. New to microbiology. New to American academia. New to everything.

And then I walked into a room full of Indians, other Nigerians, Pakistanis, Koreans — Christians, Muslims, Hindus, atheists. Different sexualities. Different genders. Different ages. Different stories.

And that’s when it hit me.

This is what diversity actually looks like.

Not a buzzword. Not a statistic. Not a checkbox on an application.

But a room where no one is the same — and somehow, that’s exactly why it works.

You realize how important it is to feel like you’re not alone. But even more than that, you learn how to live in harmony with people who are different from you — and different from each other. It’s not an “us versus them.”

It’s just… us.

At some point I realized maybe no one “fit in.” Because there was no box to fit into. And that was freeing.

In this lab, I’ve had conversations I never would’ve imagined having. I’ve tried foods I can’t pronounce properly. I’ve learned about cultures, faiths, and experiences that expanded the way I see the world.

I go to lab not just to run experiments or analyze data. I go and become more socially aware. More thoughtful. More open. I go and step more fully into who I am.

And here’s what I want to say to anyone who feels like the minority in a room — whether that’s because of your race, gender, age, accent, religion, background, or dreams:

The world is bigger than the rooms you stand in.

Do not shrink yourself to make others comfortable. Bring your culture. Bring your stories. Bring your whole self into the space. There are no guarantees it will always be accepted — but take up space anyway.

Rooting for you,

Edidiong C