Althea “Thea” G.

Entry #1- 8/22/25

Today was chaotic, but really fun. Megan wants to get me more comfortable with microscopes (I’ll likely be looking through them a lot), so for a good chunk of today, I was watching samples from our fish tanks. It was slow work, but I’m here for the journey, not just the action. Either way, it was mesmerizing, and larval snails are weird-looking. I also have some light reading for this weekend (kidding, the books Megan gave me are about five pounds each) to learn more about insect biology before delving into forensic science. Although I originally joined for forensics, I’m really enjoying it all so far, more than I expected. I can’t stop wanting to know more about everything I can get my hands on. Let’s see what I can reach.

Love,

Thea

Entry #2- 8/27/25

Today was pretty chill. I made a pin (unimportant but fun) and yelled at Jared (the pin maker). I’ve also added a few links to my NoodleTools, which, for some inexplicable reason, I chose to subject myself to. Unfortunately, the humanities teachers may have had a point because it’s really helping to keep me organized. Anyways, I think I’ve officially chosen to begin studying bot flies, so I’ve been looking at them and their morphology. I really need to update my researcher profile, though, so see you next time!

Love, 

Thea

Entry #3- 9/12/25

Hey! It’s been a while. I’ve been pretty busy. A week ago, we went to Ballona, which was awesome, and succeeded in re-awakening my love for native plants. We settled on my Dark Matter Day station- Mauricio and I are doing a “Paint Your Own Bug” table. I also really dug into the books, finally. I took some good notes and also organized my notebook (long overdue, to be honest). I’ve been doing some more research too, and I’ve found some larvae that Megan may be able to pick up, fingers crossed. If so, this may be one of my last entries in which the words “blow fly” don’t come up at all. Wait, never mind…

Love, 

Thea

Entry #4- 9/15/25

I’m super tired, so this is gonna be pretty short. But this week was pretty productive. I picked up the big shiny book of flies on Monday and took some more notes on the old ones. I also sent in my Inquirer pitch, which I’m… not unsatisfied with? Not much to report this week, so see ya Wednesday(?)!

Love, 

Thea

Entry #13- 11/14/25

Ooooooh boy, I have a lot of catching up to do. (I’m gonna update this later, no, I'd BETTER update this later, so for those of you seeing this in the future, I have 4 entries done.) Yeah, not the greatest. Anyway, this week has been pretty good for WISRD. I’ve been looking at housing for my bugs, and I ended up procuring two (very dirty, thanks previous WISRD entomologist) glass terrariums. I spent the next two days finding eggs (THANKS PREVIOUS WISRD ENTOMOLOGIST) in the walls of the terrarium, impaling myself on my cleaning tools, and desicating my hands beyond repair with bleach. I’ve also been thinking about my poster (poster session is coming up wayyyy too fast). I really don’t know how to explain either what I’m doing or what I’ve done, so I guess that’s the next week (and probably Thanksgiving too, if I’m honest), figuring that out. Today (Friday), I found a Quizlet set on forensic entomology and made what I guess is a tableau for decomposition. I learn best from repetition and physical example, so let’s see if this is finally what makes me know these insects like the back of my hand. So yeah. Excitement! Intrigue! And a perpetually-behind amateur high school forensic entomologist trying to catch up! It’s always exhilarating in the amazing world of WISRD forensic ent! Tune in to see what happens next time (probably poster work, yikes) ‘cause right now I'm tuning out. Catch you later!

Love,

Thea

Entry #14- 11/21/25

I didn’t do much this week. I worked extensively on my poster. I think I’m going to make a diorama for my presentation, which I’m gonna hope will be more engaging.

Anyway, we have next week off for Thanksgiving break, so I’ll see you in two weeks for poster session week!! See ya there!

Love,

Thea

Entry #15- 12/5/25

Poster session week!! This week, leading up to the poster session, has been hectic. I was super confused, and through literally no fault of anybody but myself, I didn’t finish my poster in time!! Joy! So Megan hopped on my poster, and we got it finished in like forty minutes, which was frankly insane to me. I was doing too much, as usual, which is also why I’ve been procrastinating, therefore neglecting this journal for like a little while. Yeah, that’s definitely something I need to work on. Anyways, poster session was pretty smooth, and I actually really like the whiteboard thing I used to present my info, so I think I’m going to use that again. I didn’t get as many visits as I thought I might, but I’m actually kind of glad for that. It’s like this poster session was a chance to practice for the whole future of presenting my project as it progresses. I did get a few suggestions (recorded in my physical WISRD journal), which’ll be helpful for my project. Another thing to note for the next poster session is that I need to rehearse my information quite a bit! I was a bit jittery at first, which wasn’t great, but after I presented a few times, I was alright. So I’ll keep that in mind for next time. Alright, I should go now. See ya later!!

Love,

Thea

Entry #16- 12/11/25

Hey, what’s up? This is my first up-to-date journal entry in a while, since, y’know, the one in which I said I’d stop slacking on my journal entries? Yeah, spoiler alert— did not stop doing that. Frankly, I’m a little salty because the end of the semester is coming up, and I need to finish all of the ones that I didn’t do so I don’t fail WISRD. Other than the crushing workload (thanks, teachers, really needed that), this week has been pretty chill in WISRD, so I figure I might as well update you all on the things I’ve missed in my last few entries. 1— WISRD, and therefore I, got a shiny new toy! Not technically that shiny (well, if shine equates to cost, then yes, very shiny) or a toy (it’s a piece of lab equipment), but our high-powered microscope nonetheless. When I tell you the view is great, it’s GREAT. Like, I-had-the-privilege-of-witnessing-a-microorganism-being-consumed-by bacteria-on-a-huge-moniter great. A good microscope is truly one of the most fascinating things in the world (not the microscope part, just what it can show you.) So yeah, very happy about that. 2— I did a lot of thinking about my project, and I think I’ve figured out what I want one of the factors I study to be. Ever since I joined WISRD, I’ve had this idea in the back of my mind that I needed to relate my project to the environment and climate change in some way, I guess to make it “contemporary” or something? Whatever the reason, I’ve been thinking about the affect of air and soil quality on my insects. Will they colonize a body faster in a smoggy climate or in a purified one? I hope that it does something, but we’ll see! I’ll also seeeee you next week (oohh Thea that was a good one oooh Thea that was really funny ooooh). Yeah, okay, I’m being driven to madness. Bye!!

Love,

Thea

Entry #17- 1/6/26

Entry one of ‘26! I’ve done nothing! Not really, but I still feel like I need to do so much. So, this semester, I plan to get some insects (well, really moths, and then blue bottleflies). I also want to raise the aforementioned moths and some fruit flies for the poison dart frogs that are on their way.
Megan wants me to raise them legless, so I think I’m gonna do that. As for the moths, which will hopefully be of the Death’s-head hawk variety, they’re mostly just a passion project. If you’re an avid fan of Jonathan Demme’s spectacular 1991 psychological horror/thriller, as I am, you may recognize the common name of Acherontia Styx. At least, I did when researching “easy entomology insects to raise, Google help me pretty please.“ And I was psyched, because yeah, I totally want to buy the eggs of the true star (sorry Jodie Foster) of my favorite movie. Sooo, I asked Megan and the WISRD budget if they could afford my little late holiday gift, which I promise has a point to it, Megan, if you’re reading. The point is probably to procrastinate. I'm postponing my flies for the later part of ‘26, because I want to make sure that I can take care of a living thing and NOT have it die on me. So maybe having Buffalo Bill’s moth-babies will teach me something. (Also part of the reason I’m doing this.) Anyways, Megan’s also making me look at other WISRD’s advice that I want to integrate into my work habits this semester:

1. ‍ “Create a check-in or checklist system for yourself when you are working. If you struggle with focus, ask for support from peers or others in the room to help you stay on task.”

2. “Set out some things you would like to accomplish for the day, and journal them. Always a good use of time.”

“Find a project you have lots of passion for, so you come to WISRD excited to learn.”

Alright, think that’s about it! See ya next time to see me not integrate any of this advice and ultimately do nothing of any meaning to advance any project. Um. Bye!!

Love,

Thea

Entry #18- 1/16/26

Alright!! So this week has been exhausting and more than slightly disappointing. Found out that Death’s-head hawkmoths are illegal to import to the US (we think?? it mighhht be possible, but we’ll see). So the point is, my first insect will have to be some boring moth (or non-moth) without any part in the best movie ever. No matter how shallow that is, I’m still a bit salty. And it really doesn’t help that no other moth is any kind of easy to raise. Seriously, I considered silk worms, even got excited about the prospect, until I realized that over 80% of videos showcasing their lifecycles didn’t showcase any of the moth part, and were more about the dying-in-their-cocoon part. This is supposed to teach me the responsiblity of taking care of something tiny with a three-day adult lifespan, not about mortality and the tragedy of metamorphosis. Suffice it to say, this isn’t Kafka, and my project isn’t about killing harmless little guys before they reach maturity.

So, you see my issue. After looking at silk, luna, and various other varieties of moth, I didn’t have much. Buuut, that was until educator extrodinare, one Megan Noel, sent me a few eye-opening links. Enter: the beetle. Yeah, okay, not as exciting as a moth, but super cool, and there are a ton of easy guys that I could raise that would potentially live to see, I dunno, the third stage of their lifecycles? So, yeah, despite the saga and the setbacks, I’m once again pretty excited about these bugs. I will be back, most likely with a beetle species (hopefully legally obtainable in California) to fufill my desire for parenthood. Come back to see how this teen scientist becomes a teen mom!! Of bugs. Bug mom. Bugs, guys. Yeah, I’m gonna go.

Love,

Thea

Entry #19- 1/23/26

Hey! This week was really short. Only had two days of WISRD this week, which. Ehh. Didn’t do much. I did read a little more of the fly book, and learned that the word ovoviviparously. Which is an adverb. I have never personally needed to describe that something does an action producing-eggs-inside-the-body-and-having-them-hatch-as-soon-as-they-are-laid-ly but I guess I have the word for it now. Other than that, I did Ask-a-WISRD this morning. Or rather, we did, Dash, Mauricio, Sor, Megan, and I all met at the elementary campus to present to the kids. I answered “Why Are Pigs Pink?” rather lacklusterly, but I guess elementary schoolers are easily impressed. Guess that’s why I was obsessed with watching the fish in the women’s shoe section of Nordstrom when I was little. Anyways, they somehow loved the plaque even more than I the fish, and I think all the kids around the kid I gave mine to were jealous. Mission success. Yeah, I’m exhausted, so I should go now. Here’s to a more WISRD-y next week.

Love,

Thea

Entry #20- 1/28/26

Hey!! Morning!! Uhh this week has also been shockingly unproductive thus far as well. (I mean, I have two more days of WISRD left so, I’m good for now.) But Sor won WISRD of the week!!! YAYYY!!! (And please check out their page, they are one of my best friends— one of my favorite people, but also the smartest, and coolest, so go!) Umm yeah, both me and them are considering the board next year, so let’s see what I can find to be convincing. Okay, bye!!

Love,

Thea

Entry #21- 3/23/26

Hey, I’m back. It’s been a while since I’ve journaled!! And I supposed that it’s not an excuse, but I have been quite busy. This past few weeks, and really, much of the month of March, I was preparing. For poster session (which yes, I know is a way away, but I want to be prepared), and also for my art show. In short, I’ve been making a diorama! I have been looking at the layouts of outdoor crime scenes to determine what would look or be best for my scene, and how best to explain my project to others. I’m really big into trying to explain science simply for people who want to know. I imagine that my diorama, which combines my passion for science and art. It’s in the gallery now, and I’ve gotten a lot of comments on it already. See ya!

Love,

Thea

Thea’s WISRD Noodletools