On the first day at my lab, I successfully found my lab and arrived 5 minutes early to Ellen (my lab PI)’s office at Boston College. Thanks to Google Maps! The entire Art and Minds lab was at her office, including the lab manager Nat, my graduate student Jill who led the project I would be working on, five undergraduate students from Boston College, and one undergraduate student from Brown University. I introduced myself to the entire lab, and the lab wrapped up its weekly meeting, where lab members shared new insights and progress on their work. After the other lab members left, I stayed to talk to Ellen, Jill, and Elizabeth (a BC undergrad who worked on the El Sistema project for 2 years already) about the specifics of what I was going to work on. My project, as I had researched before, focused on how orchestral music training affected first and second grade children’s cognitive abilities. It was a three-year longitudinal project, and I was fortunate to work in the lab at the end of...