Jocie Larson, a native of Litchfield and first generation college student, was one of 10 students from the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University featured in the Amazon Prime TV show “The College Tour” episode focused on their colleges.
Larson, a CSB senior studying biochemistry and theology, brings her experiences and perspective to the forefront in the series.
“When I heard about the auditions for the show, I’ll admit I wasn’t too keen on it,” Larson said. “I didn’t audition, but the admissions people heard of me from a short video I did in the summer highlighting research I did. They convinced me to speak with casting people because they thought I was well spoken and had an interesting story. The lady I spoke with said she’d love to have me on the show if I was interested, and I went for it.”
It was a reflective experience for Larson. She looked back on her time with the college. She was on the swim team all four years of college, she worked with the Special Olympics for swimming and softball, and studied abroad in Spain. With experiences like that, it was hard to focus on a single subject, but Larson said she figured it out.
“My biggest responsibility was making sure that I got to say what I really wanted to say,” Larson said. “I decided to focus on my summer undergraduate research because it is important to me. I’m very passionate about it.”
Larson interned with one of her professors last summer. The focus of the research was testing the potential of anti-cancer agents with certain proteins — essentially researching how to fight cancer. She got to showcase a little bit of how this looked in some staged shots.
“It was actually kind of comical because if you were a lab person you would know that it was pretty funny,” she said. “I remember in one of the clips I was watching the column run and it was something that was so mundane, so boring, you would have never sat and watched that closely in the lab, but they thought it looked really cool. So I sat and watched it.”
And while the shots weren’t always reflective of everything she does in the lab, they were realistic jobs and procedures done while researching, Larson said.
One of the big things for Larson was the inclusion of one of her professors in the shots, as she said she owes a lot to them.
“The support that I receive from professors and this community makes it feel possible to do it all,” she said. “So I’m glad she was included because the reality was that I worked with professors for my research. The people, like my professor, and resources here really encourage students to find balance in academics, athletics and social activities.”
Growing up in Litchfield Larson said it was hard to have big dreams. Her goal when she graduated from high school was to become a teacher, something that changed when she went to college.
“I’m really proud to come from Litchfield, and the people I look up to and were my biggest mentors were my teachers,” she said, “but I wish someone had told me sooner the world is your oyster and you should pursue something you’re truly passionate about.”
It wasn’t that Larson disliked the idea of teaching, but she found fulfillment in research and going beyond what she knew.
“The unknown is always there,” she said. “And it’s going to be there no matter who you are — if you have a Ph.D. or not. I hope my story inspires people to embrace that unknown and try something because what’s the risk? I’m a small town girl from Litchfield doing cancer research, the big question that doctors, Ph.D.s and professors are still trying to answer. So who’s to say that I couldn’t be the one to answer it or someone else? But you can’t do it unless you put yourself out there and try to answer something that is unknown.”
