Queen of Science - 13 Funding

Having completed the first step to forming a research club, Fern feels like she and Emily might actually be successful. Although Fern will have to work hard to fully solidify her foundation, at least it exists. Rather than solely focusing on short-term problems, she can look into the future and anticipate the potential. Invigorated with optimism that only a naive student can have, Fern goes to tell Prof. Jameson about her deal with Sarah Martin.

After walking to Jameson’s office, Fern knocks on his door and hopes that he is not busy. Luckily, Jameson is just doing some reading and Fern enters with no problem.

Seeing how Fern is smiling with a big grin and could jump out of her chair any second, Jameson quickly infers how her conversation with Martin went. He smiles and says, “good news?”

“Great news! Dr. Martin said that I can grow plants for my experiment while helping her project. To get continued support, I just have to prove that my experiment has value by the end of the summer.”

“That’s great, Fern.” Happy that his student is achieving success, Jameson smiles like a doting parent whose child got 100% on a spelling quiz. Thinking about how Dr. Martin is more strict and stone-faced than he is, Jameson says, “I may think your experiment has value, but Dr. Martin will probably be hard to convince. Don’t start slacking now.”

Knowing that she has her work cut out for her, Fern semi-seriously salutes and says, “Yes, sir!”

Going along with the gimmick, Jameson nods and chastely says, “Dismissed!”

—

Fern and Emily reunite for dinner in the dining hall. After the two have purchased their food and sat down, Fern quickly fills Emily in how it went with Jameson and Martin.

Happy that Fern has gotten a research position and funding, Emily lifts up her milk carton and signals for Fern to do the same. “Cheers!” Acting like they are businesswomen that just made a very lucrative deal, they clink their drinks together and celebrate.

Once the two are done basking in their happiness, Emily frowns and says, “I know I said I would get funding for the club, but I don’t know how to do that.

Fern only has guaranteed support for the summer. The two need to get reliable long-term funding and resources.

“Well…” Fern offers, “Jameson said that I could apply for grants and scholarships.”

Resting her chin on her hand, Emily plays with a piece of hair that escaped her ponytail and says, “Even with that, we are depending on someone else to support the research. I would rather be mostly independent.”

Mimicking Emily, Fern also rests her chin on her hand and asks, “Don’t most clubs do bake sales, or bracelet sales, or something? We could do that.”

Striking Fern’s idea down, Emily says, “I think we’ll need to make more money than what those get.”

“Well… my part of the club is based in my major, so your part should be based in your major. Could we use communications to raise funds?”

After staring at a random speck on the wall for a while, Emily says, “yeah!” Like a lightbulb went off in her head, Emily says, “We can start a science newsletter! It would be used to spread information about how your research is going and maybe some new science that is coming out.”

“We’ll sell subscriptions?”

“Heck no, who’s going to pay for a newsletter written by first-year students? We can get profits from advertising and donations. Maybe, later on, we can sell subscriptions.”

Energetic because she finally knows how she can get funding for the club, Emily starts rattling off things that she’ll need to do. Occasionally Fern tries to jump in and offer to help but gets immediately rejected. Those interjections go something like this:

“I can translate the scientific papers into layman’s terms-”

“No, no. You focus on doing the science stuff; someone else can translate. I got this, trust me!”

“I can do-”

“Shhhh”

Eventually, Fern gives up and listens to Emily as she thinks out loud. After Emily runs out of steam, Fern offers to help once again. Emily just nods her hand and says, “I will definitely ask for help if I need it. Don’t worry.”

Pivoting towards another topic, Emily raises her eyebrow and says, “Anyways, excited to go to that art gallery tomorrow?”

Fern is gobsmacked at the audacity to be talking about going out immediately after listening to all the stuff she has to do. On top of that all, Emily knows how much stuff Fern has to do.

“Didn’t you just tell me to trust you and not to worry? How are you already talking about slacking off?”

Pretending to be offended, Emily gasps and says, “It’s not slacking off. I’m just maintaining a healthy work-life balance.”

Not to mention, the most she can do is post an online application form for Ontario University students, but that takes 20 minutes maximum. Emily cannot do much without the help of other people. In the first place, why go through the effort of setting up the club is no one joins?

Having never truly experienced a healthy work-life balance, Fern looks at Emily skeptically and says, “uh-huh.”

Before the two friends go their separate ways, they setup actual plans to go out. Not one to fully relax, Fern also sets the rule that they have to go buy green pea seeds. Not only are they closer to Mendel’s experiment than flowers, but they are also agriculturally relevant for Dr. Martin.