Lexie Beckermann
Technician
“I make sure we go out and get all the ‘skeeters and come back in one piece; that’s usually my job.”
Now in her fifth field season here at Tyson, Lexie has risen from the TERA program in high school all the way up to her role as a technician on the mosquito (‘skeeter) team. Five years ago, I doubt she would’ve expected to make it this far.
“I grew up surrounded by nature so science has always been something I was interested in. My high school freshman year biology teacher recommended the program to me and I was like, ‘hmm, I don’t know, I think I want to be a doctor.’ But she really pushed me.”
It turned out that this push was just what Lexie needed. Over the past few years she’s run large scale experiments, hiked through many forest plots, and endured countless mosquito bites, ultimately becoming a leader in the community. For many, this would lead to a sense of superiority, but for Lexie it’s the exact opposite.
“There’s this sense that all of us are equally important in the lab. We all do the same stuff. I’ll be over there doing dishes, filling rain water, all the same stuff that everybody else in the lab is doing. We’re all doing the same stuff and trying to have that same level of competence. That’s one of the many things I love about my lab.”