Erika deAndrade recently spent a summer gaining a great deal of experience with the Veterans Affairs (VA) system. At the Atlanta VA she shadowed and assisted different medical personnel, while at the Fayetteville VA she worked on the psych ward, taking notes, observing, and assisting mentally unstable veterans. At the VA Compensation Evaluation Center she observed and assisted with the documentation of veterans’ conditions post-service. Erika is from Ledyard, CT and graduated from Ledyard High School. She has a strong interest in science because she believes it helps us understand the world around us and that it’ll continue to be a pivotal subject of study in the future. She’s also very interested in the visual arts and ceramics. Another of Erika’s hobbies is travel and experiencing other cultures, which is made easier by the fact that her father’s a pilot and she flies for free.