Eamon Goucher, Trumbull '22

Telling Stories to Find Oneself

By Matthew Fan

Telling stories. This is a motto you would typically hear from a humanities student, not from one like Eamon Goucher, a junior majoring in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. However, if there’s one thing Eamon has learned about himself here at Yale, it is that he loves telling stories and enabling others to do the same. Importantly, he has realized that this story of oneself is constantly transforming as one tackles new pursuits and discovers new passions.

As a high schooler in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Eamon quickly developed a passion for biology. He decided to pursue research at Fox Chase Cancer Center through the TRIP (Teen Research Internship Program) Initiative, where he had his first real experience doing what he calls “actual science” by conducting experiments to measure how supplements affect rates of fruit fly reproduction, development, and brain death.

This experience initiated his interest in research. During his junior year of high school, he took a class in biotechnology at a nearby technical school and then was able to apply the techniques he learned in an internship at Fox Chase. Although the internship was challenging work — 45 to 50 hour weeks and reading massive textbooks with words of which he only knew 20%—the principal investigator was extremely responsive and supportive, giving him the reins to conduct his own project studying HIV integrase.

Heading into Yale, Eamon immediately gravitated toward science. He has been working for a year and a half in the Jonas Lab at the Yale School of Medicine, studying the molecular underpinnings of Parkinson’s disease. Specifically, he is examining Parkinson’s pathology through the lens of mitochondrial metabolism. When I asked him what he finds attractive about research like this, he told me, “I find it super interesting to study how things work; there’s always another layer of complexity.”

Most importantly, Eamon emphasized a recent revelation of his: everything to him is about telling the story. “It could be a chemical reaction or a molecule traveling through the cell—just telling stories of how these things move and interact,” he told me. Perhaps subconsciously, he chose many of his activities, such as writing for the Yale Scientific Magazine, in pursuance of this goal of storytelling.

Eamon has also been increasingly drawn toward sociological endeavors. “Science is cool, but it leaves something to be desired when talking about the totality of life,” he told me. For example, he works with an organization called Matriculate to provide mentorship to low-income high school students who are applying to college. He helps them tell their own stories in the essays that they write for college applications, and it’s all incredibly fulfilling for him. He volunteers in a similar capacity for No Closed Doors (a local employment equity organization), helping New Haven residents write resumes, cover letters, and job applications.

Moreover, Eamon has a love for music, so he’s been singing for the Yale Spizzwinks since his first semester of college. Next year, he and the Spizzwinks are launching a community-based music collaboration with an arts magnet school in New Haven to create original music with local students. Music, in a way, is a lingua franca, and through it, these young students will have a platform to tell their stories for anyone to understand.

In his first couple of years at Yale, Eamon worked quickly to knock out his requirements, but over time, he has realized that he is not sure whether medical school is his next destination. In fact, he has a newfound interest for a future in education because in that environment, “students are actually creating.” He wants to fight against the natural tendency where people stick to what they’re good at, suggesting that college shouldn’t be a way of reifying what you think you are good at but rather a process of discovering what you want. Consequently, he has been trying new things, like working on an educational app, that don’t come as easily to him. And he really enjoys it because it’s helping him figure out what he wants to do in the future.

Ultimately, during his time at Yale, Eamon has broadened his frame of thinking. He’s paying more attention to the real world around him and the relationships that connect everyone and everything. Although science and research have been foundational for him, telling stories has enabled him to find what resonates with him and has guided him on the path to discover who he truly wants to be.