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As an undergraduate, my lab mates could often find me standing in the hallway outside Dr. Sarah Walker’s office, talking about science, life, and my career goals. They could walk by again almost two hours later, and we would still be there. 

When I graduated from UNH in May 2023, I remember wondering what those moments would look like once I left. It was hard to imagine without the structure of classes, lab meetings, and regular check-ins. But as a graduate student at Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in New York, I continued to reach out to Dr. Walker with updates or questions via email, and we occasionally met virtually. One morning this past April, though, just days before my PhD candidacy exam, she arrived at the UNH campus and found me once again in the hallway outside her office, looking for last-minute advice and a few words of reassurance. It was a day I knew she would be particularly busy, but she found time to talk and offer the guidance I needed. 

I updated her after my exam with a quick text reading, “I’m a candidate now!”

A few weeks later, we were both attending the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in San Diego. On my flight from New York, I found myself thinking about my first AACR conference. Three years prior, Dr. Walker sent me to the 2023 AACR Annual Meeting as an undergraduate to present my work on pharmacologically targeting the protein Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 (STAT3) in an aggressive subtype of breast cancer called triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). At the time, I relied on her for help shaping my ideas and refining how I communicated them. I remember going over potential questions I might be asked and thinking through how I would respond. We both knew my project inside and out. This year, I presented my graduate research on how cell divisions in breast tissue can act as a regulator for immune cell invasion during development and its implications in early triple negative breast cancer progression. Dr. Walker came to my poster and said, “So, tell me what you’ve been working on these past couple of years.” 

For the first time in my research career, I was telling her about science I had done without her supervision. For the first time, it felt less like a student asking for guidance and more like a conversation between colleagues. And in that moment, I realized I didn’t need her in the same way anymore, because she had already taught me to be independent and confident in my work. I wasn’t coming to her to work through every decision or ask what to do next. Instead, I was sharing progress, asking for perspective, and continuing a conversation that no longer needed her to lead. 

This kind of relationship doesn’t just happen on its own, but staying connected isn’t complicated. It takes intention. Sometimes it’s a quick email update. Sometimes it’s reaching out for advice. And sometimes it’s finding yourself back in that same hallway outside her office. I don’t see Dr. Walker every day, but I still have someone in my corner who understands how I approach problems and how I’ve grown over time.

We had dinner together on the last day of the conference and talked about our summer plans, for both research and travel. After, we stood outside the conference center and continued chatting for twenty minutes before going in opposite directions. As she walked away, Dr. Walker said, “Stay in touch!” It seemed like a silly comment and that it was a given, considering the number of times I had reached out over the last few weeks. But it was exactly the statement that helps keep our mentor-mentee communication channel open, and I took it seriously. The next morning, I was waiting to board my flight back to New York and listening to a research talk that was related to Dr. Walker’s work, so I sent her a message: “You should watch this…” 

The relationships we build as undergraduates at UNH don’t have an expiration date of graduation day. You might not know exactly what they’ll look like yet, but they can continue to grow alongside you in ways you don’t fully expect. So, if you’re preparing to graduate, thank your mentors and remember to tell them where you land next. They’re eager to know.

And one day, you might find yourself in a similar moment: standing in a hallway or outside a conference center, catching up with a mentor and realizing how much has changed, and how much hasn’t.