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Liz Kay
Hello and welcome to the Province College Podcast. I'm your host, Liz Kay, and I'm joined by producer Chris Judge of the Class of 2005 here on the Providence College podcast. We bring you interesting stories from the Friar family. This week, we're talking with Briana Harper, who was a really varied list of accomplishments from her four years in Freetown.

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Liz Kay
Harper is a biology major who has presented her research on predatory bacteria at national conferences as a cheerleader. She's rooted for the Briers at the dunk Madison Square Garden and at the Sweet 16. And she also performed at numerous events as president of Peace's Footprints Gospel Choir. This year, the college gave her the MLK Vision Award in recognition of her work, mentoring middle schoolers as part of Black Girl Magic and as part of the Student Athlete Advisory Council Subcommittee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

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Liz Kay
Brianna, we were really excited to talk with you today.

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Brianna Harper '22
Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here as well.

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Liz Kay
So you're joining us from Atlanta, Georgia. What are you doing there this summer and what's coming up for you this fall?

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Brianna Harper '22
I am participating in a fellowship through the CDC and Morehouse is called Project EMOTET and it's a public health fellowship. I'm taking classes and also working as an intern at a organization called System of that provides equity and sexual education as well.

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Liz Kay
That sounds like it's been pretty good preparation for what's coming up for you in the fall.

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Brianna Harper '22
Yes, in the fall, we pursuing a message of public health at Emory University. I'm looking forward to that.

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Liz Kay
Now, I think after the last two and a half years of pandemic life, I think we're all our chair, epidemiologists. We all think it's totally intuitive why you would want to get an MPH, but what particularly led you to pursue public health as a career?

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Brianna Harper '22
So I don't really work as a contact tracing, and that really highlighted some of the health disparities within our society. So ultimately, I want to be involved in providing aid to low income and underserved populations, as well as providing resources and inclusive and equitable opportunities to marginalized communities.

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Liz Kay
Were you a contact tracer at PC?

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Brianna Harper '22
No, I was actually contact tracing back at home in New York.

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Liz Kay
You're generally from Troy, New York. So just outside of Albany. What brought you to Providence College?

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Brianna Harper '22
I toured many colleges around the area and I really fell in love with the community and sense of family in Providence. And ultimately I was looking for a relatively small school. But the fact that it was a small school with such a big personality and atmosphere, especially related to sports, that truly is awesome.

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Liz Kay
Are you a big sports fan?

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Brianna Harper '22
I honestly do high school with Matt, but I once I got to college, I definitely became a big sports fan.

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Liz Kay
Well, you had quite the seat to enjoy sports at Providence College as a cheerleader for the last three years. When did you first get involved in cheer?

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Brianna Harper '22
I tried out for the team at the end of my freshman year. I had watched one of the games and noticed the cheerleaders and I had been gymnastics for 15 years before in college. And so I ended up being with one of the other cheerleaders who lived on my floor and decided to try out and fell in love with the sport after that.

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Liz Kay
So that meant you were right there on the sidelines through men's basketball, most recent, most amazing season. What was that like for you?

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Brianna Harper '22
It's an unbelievable experience, honestly. There's nothing like sitting courtside and standing on the bench, cheering fans. And then when you get to Madison Square Garden, such a great atmosphere and arena, and it's been unbelievable. And I think all the fans like games. They had so much fun and that's brands on the court that's been around.

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Liz Kay
So you just told us you had been you've been doing gymnastics for 15 years. Tell us more about that. How did you get involved in in Essex?

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Brianna Harper '22
My parents had me up when I was three years old and I ended up going into competitive team at World Class Academy in the fall. And I was able to travel every two weekends and weekends for different needs across the country. And I competed at the state level, national level. It was a great experience.

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Liz Kay
But you also mentioned that music has a pretty big role in your life. You know, you certainly were president of footprints. How long have you been singing and when did you start playing piano?

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Brianna Harper '22
Yes. So I grew up my parents, my dad's a pastor and I was a first lady of a church. So constantly being in that Pentecostal church, music is a very big and important, has a very big and important role in the service. I would sing with my praise and worship team. My dad's always playing music, gospel music in our car.

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Brianna Harper '22
So I actually when I arrived at Providence, I met a few upperclassmen who were on the Prince choir. And it's funny because one day McDaniels and we just happened to start singing a gospel song together and they're like, You have to join the club that you have to be in it. And so we I joined and grew to fall in love with the program, the club.

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Brianna Harper '22
This year we actually hired a new musician and director and they elevated footprints to another level. This spring we had our gospel fest and it was a great turnout and so much fun to just be clapping, singing, stepping out and just like worshiping with the entire choir. It was awesome.

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Liz Kay
So as part of Footprints, in addition to Gospel Fest, you got to perform at a number of other events. I mean, I heard gospel footprints perform at the Christmas tree lighting at the slave center, and you also got to perform with the Hillbilly Thomas as part of the diocese of Providence's anniversary celebration. What what were those experiences like there?

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Brianna Harper '22
One thing that me and the other members this year, we really wanted to focus on outreach within Footprint and becoming a bigger club, as well as getting our name out there to the Providence area and Providence community. And so we developed a really good relationship with Father Justin Bolger, invited us to join the hillbilly Thomas and sing their worship style and worship music.

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Brianna Harper '22
We enjoyed the concert so much, we had to be part of it. And then just listening to the rest of the concert, it was it was great to hear. And that's the Christmas tree lighting. Just being able to sing with the other acapella groups is so much fun, as well as just seeing the rest of your Providence community come out to join and singing Christmas melodies.

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Brianna Harper '22
It's awesome.

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Liz Kay
Brianna As someone who was raised in a Pentecostal tradition, what was your experience like coming to Providence College, which is obviously a Catholic institution?

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Brianna Harper '22
So I had previously attended Catholic institutions for high school, but elementary school, so it's kind of used to the Catholic atmosphere. But Providence is very welcoming of all spiritual traditions. I didn't feel like I had to be Catholic to feel comfortable at Providence and within footprints, most of the state Catholic. So there's actually spaces where you're still able to feel safe, heard and understood within your own religion or your own denomination, even if you're not affiliated.

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Brianna Harper '22
I had a lot of roommates and friends who weren't affiliated with a certain religion, but they still felt like they were able to be themselves. And still, if they had to necessarily subscribe to the Catholic doctrine while being a student at the school. And so for me personally, I still felt like I could go to a massive I wanted to and if I wanted to have a attend one of the praise and worship nights to just have that moment with God, I felt comfortable in doing that as well as felt comfortable in worshiping or attending to outside church and still felt, heard, respected and see.

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Liz Kay
I just had so many like really diverse experiences that PC is just like awesome to hear more about them. So, you know, even after you graduated, you got to present the research that you had conducted at PC at the American Society of Microbiology Conference in D.C.. Tell us a little bit about your project. What are predatory bacteria and what are some of the practical applications of your research?

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Brianna Harper '22
So the predatory bacteria, and particularly with within our lab and my lab is under Dr. Laura Williams, a microbiology teacher there, a professor at Providence. We studied every out which they did. They just gram negative bacteria. And so they're really interesting because they could be a possible alternative to antibiotics because they have to kill drug resistant pathogens. So I actually did an interview with her freshman year, and that's how I got involved in the research, and I had no idea what she was talking about, if I'm being honest.

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Brianna Harper '22
So any biology students don't be afraid. If they're not sure what the research is doing with their professors will definitely help you out. But that to me and just knowing that it has such a it could have such a big impact in the future with more studies. Yes. These predatory bacteria, ultimately they invaded. They're just a gram negative bacteria.

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Brianna Harper '22
So I studied the predation efficiency, which basically lets us know how fast the bacteria are killing their prey and to what efficiency they're able to kill their prey. All right.

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Liz Kay
So potential therapies in the future potentially for some of these diseases, disease resistant bacteria, antibiotic resistant bacteria, which is unfortunately getting to be a bigger and bigger problem.

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Brianna Harper '22
Yes, unfortunately. But I think it definitely ties into like public health matters as well. So I'd be happy to see that correlation within the research.

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Liz Kay
You mentioned that you first got involved when you first learned about her research by interviewing Dr. Williams. What was the what what prompted the interview? How did you get to talk to her?

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Brianna Harper '22
So I received the email. It was actually one of the bio society emails and they just basically outlined different research opportunities that were available. And so she was offered interviews concerning her research. And so I went in nervous first and she kind of talked through her research and wanted to gauge my interest in biology as well as microbiology.

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Brianna Harper '22
And at that time, freshman year, I hadn't taken any microbiology courses but went in and was just super excited to learn more about what she does. And through that I felt like an amazing relationship with her and was able to learn so much more about microbiology and predatory bacteria.

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Liz Kay
That's one of the unique things about Providence College. You know, it's not a giant research university, but it means that opportunities like the ones you just described are possible. It means that you can work directly with a faculty member. You know, you don't have to compete for her attention with postdoc or graduate students, you know, who are all trying, you know, all all need to get their work done, too.

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Liz Kay
You can work directly, you know, and learn directly at her at the bench with her. Right. So like some of the techniques, I'm sure you must have this. I can only imagine some of the skills that you've developed.

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Brianna Harper '22
And yeah, it's an amazing opportunity within Providence. And I always tell incoming bio as well as other majors that at a lot of schools you don't see that where you're able to progress when you get on research. I remember telling my friends who went to other schools and I like how so yeah it's definitely and oportunity and it also helps with your bio class is already having so much knowledge within a lab setting just helps you grow for the interests of winning and.

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Liz Kay
I think that's kind of counter intuitive. I think most people would expect that, like you'd want to get as many classes as possible under your belt and then that would make the lab easier. But I don't think people would expect to find that the lab work would make your classwork easier.

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Brianna Harper '22
It does. I have a in actually one of my intro bio classes back to kid. He was saying how for our lab practicals all of the recession issues they do really well with it just because they already have that experience in their life settings.

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Liz Kay
You also got to work with girls in middle school as a mentor for Black Girl Magic. Can you tell us a little bit about this program and why you wanted to be involved?

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Brianna Harper '22
Yes. So this program where we facilitate conversations and have meetings weekly with young middle school girls and basically want to instill in them the importance of girlhood, love of self, the activities and conversations of blackness, of femininity. I, growing up never really had that representation or had opportunities with a program like this. And so hearing about this from Dr. Ashley Smith, it made me interested in participating in it and being a role model and acting as a hope or a mentor for young girls really brought my attention.

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Liz Kay
And how do you think you benefited from this experience?

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Brianna Harper '22
Honestly, each week, seeing the girls and seeing how they're open to having conversations with my I. I feel like I developed within my black girlhood and this love of that and acceptance of that, having young girls that you see are just so proud and so excited to come each week to see you and to talk with you and know that you're there for them, and a support system that just helps you as a black woman feel proud of being a black woman who can support other black girls growing up.

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Liz Kay
How did you feel to be honored for this work and your work with 60 I committee with the Vision Award.

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Brianna Harper '22
That was an extreme honor. I was surprised, but extremely honored. Social justice and human rights have always been extremely important to me. And after the George Floyd the George Floyd murder, I actually began conversations on my team about the topics. And so we continued these sessions throughout the past year and having people recognize that that is something I had to do, but it's something I didn't want to do was like really humbling.

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Liz Kay
So just thinking back, you racked up four amazing years at Providence College. Like, is it is I looking back at all the things you've done, you really made such good use of all the time you had. It's a short period of time for sure. I'm curious of all the courses you took a P.S., which one stand out as your favorite.

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Brianna Harper '22
Of black studies with that? This was the science that was definitely one of my favorite classes. It opened my eyes to the black cities world. I had never taken out a city. She was my first black professor and I had never taken classes with that, dealt with those topics. And so having a course where she not only acted as explanation for me, but also was so willing to teach and it was without shame or without judgment of and another course would be microbiology with excellent Williams That opened my eyes a lot more paths.

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Brianna Harper '22
I was already doing the research with her, but just learning more concerning it as well. So we tried included and that was just a really big eye opener with the look on how you can.

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Liz Kay
I can only imagine what it's like to take microbiology during the pandemic. There are, unfortunately, a long list of classes that were very immediately relevant during the pandemic.

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Brianna Harper '22
Yes, I was definitely one of them. Yeah.

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Liz Kay
So of all the people that you met at Providence College and like you had so many circles, you know, both athletics, you had, you know, footprints, you had you research like all the people you met in the science complex, you know, who do you think made a difference in your life? Who were some of those people? You probably have already met?

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Liz Kay
Named two of them, I think so.

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Brianna Harper '22
I've made some of them of also like classmates circle wide as well. Now, those were my last roommates and they had a big impact with, you know, outside of classwork. We go back to our dorm rooms each day and whether it's homework or it's just we're talking about whatever is happening in life and, you know, going through the stress of college.

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Brianna Harper '22
So they were definitely big support systems as well as were slumbered and sleep. We went away. She acted as another mother on campus and we try this all the time, but she was our advisor within footprints and she was just of knew that if I called her for anything, she was going to do it and she would get rid of mom as well as Melissa NGO cheer coach.

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Brianna Harper '22
She not only just taught me cheer and everything, but she was so open to it and I had conversations with our team. She really wanted to make sure that we met a human being outside of game days and outside of the sport. And I appreciate that. And those are a few. I'm sure I'm missing some, and I apologize to all my parents.

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Liz Kay
That was not that was not an afterthought in any way, shape or form. Definitely not. You mentioned them already. You had already given them credit for influencing you. And like so.

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Brianna Harper '22
Yeah, I.

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Liz Kay
Love music in your life. So you're not a piano again. You have the advantage of being able to look back after four years. What what are you going to miss most about PC?

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Brianna Harper '22
Things? Game days are going to be a very big thing. I miss. As I said before, there's like no experience and no feeling like standing on the court and looking out at the crowd as you're like standing with your best friends. And that's that's going to be something I really miss. I'm already, like, wishing I was still part of the team and wishing I could buy season ticket and I wasn't into it already like that.

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Brianna Harper '22
Like five games like that when it citizens.

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Liz Kay
And so I can only imagine that game days are high on this list. But what are some of your favorite memories of your time on PC?

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Brianna Harper '22
Yeah, outside of being this, receiving the MLK Vision Award, being there with my family of friends and mentors, that was honestly like so humbling. It's such a humbling experience now. It's one of my favorite times. We also had a multicultural at the end of the school year, and one of my friends, Eric, he was in charge and he hosted it and we had a dunk tank.

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Brianna Harper '22
And so just standing with all of our fans outside and we've sensitive and that was a lot of fun and something out there.

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Liz Kay
And I think I saw that dunk tank and remember thinking it was not the kind of weather was was it in April or.

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Brianna Harper '22
Is it cool?

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Liz Kay
It was a cool day. It is not. You know, Providence has wonderful weather, beautiful weather. But it was definitely a chilly April this year. Anyone going in a dunk tank, it deserves a medal, that's for sure.

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Brianna Harper '22
Yeah, that's for sure.

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Liz Kay
Brianna, it's been wonderful chatting with you today. Thank you so much for joining us.

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Brianna Harper '22
Thank you for having me. I truly and for my time.

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Liz Kay
Subscribe to the Providence College podcast in all the usual places, including iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, Google Play and Spotify as well as your smart speaker. If you like what you hear, please review and share with others. Thanks for listening and go Friars.