Meet our pioneer: Britt Keislair

Who are you? 

My name is Britt Keislair and I’m 19 years old. I’m from Den Bosch. I live there with my parents. 

What do you study? 

I’m studying Analyst at Summa College in Eindhoven. That is level 4. I’m now in the third year of the training and the training lasts 4 years. 

What’s your study about? 

You research certain things. In the first year, you do biological-medical and chemical-physical research and in the second half of the second school year, you choose a specialization. I chose the chemical-physical direction. Now I’m doing an internship at a water company and I’m now researching water for certain substances and their oxygen consumption. I also research certain bacteria in the water. But with this direction, I will soon also be able to go to a potato company, such as Aviko, where a lot of food research is also done. But also at Bavaria or smaller companies, such as MSD, a pharmaceutical company. 

Biological-medical is more in the direction of blood tests and urine tests in the hospital. You can also use it to develop vaccines, for example for Corona. 

Why did you choose this study? 

In high school, I wanted to be a veterinarian. But that was such a big step from my education level to university. Then I talked to my career counsellor and that's how I ended up researching. And as an analyst, you can also make medicines for animals and help animals that way. I found that very interesting. 

Why did you first want to be a veterinarian? 

I love animals and I think it is very important to help animals. I would like to be able to make sick animals better and find a cause for their problems. I used to be a fan of dolphins and I could already see myself visiting dolphins as a vet. When I was very little, I even wanted to become a dolphin trainer. 

Why did you choose Summa College in Eindhoven? 

I looked at the training in Oss and Eindhoven and the latter appealed to me the most. That was because the school in Eindhoven is newer and much smaller and I felt more at home there. 

What do you do during your internship? 

School chose the internship for me because there are few internship places. Fortunately, they did look at the distance and that's how I ended up at AQUON. It is an internship of half a year and I started in September 2021. 

I'm on bacteriology now. This is of course the biological-medical direction from the training point of view, but here it falls under physicochemical. I’m standing on a cuvette test, in which the chemical oxygen consumption in the water is examined. Potassium is bound to oxygen and that leaves a colour, so you can see the oxygen consumption in the water. I also research bacteria in the water. That was very relevant, for example, at the Swim for Cancer in Den Bosch, when a lot of people became ill after swimming. It turned out that there was a too high concentration of bacteria in the water. 

What do you like most about your internship? 

I like bacteriology, but I like cuvette tests the most. I work with a robot, so we don't have to do much ourselves. We do, of course, have to analyze and process data and that is very nice work to do. Sometimes problems arise with the robot and then we have to solve them. That's pretty fun to do. For example, once a tube with liquid was broken or the wrong volume was pipetted. Then it turned out that the water jug ​​had not been refilled properly. You have to find out where the problem comes from and fix it. 

Do you receive good guidance? 

I’m very well supervised. I have regular conversations and I can also request them in between if I want. There’s good communication and everyone is also very nice, open, involved and hospitable. They wanted to know who I was and where I came from. I was also invited to go on a company outing right away. 

Are you going to do additional study after this? 

HBO is still on my list. I would like to study Forensic Research at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. I will also look at the same training in Breda and Den Bosch, but the one in Amsterdam is better regarded. But my mom owns a beauty salon and one of her clients works at the police crime scene. That client asked if I was already in my last year because they are looking for MBO students who want to have them work on crime scenes. If that's still the case in a year, I'd rather go there and do some training through work. But I want to continue studying anyway. I'm still young, so I want to study and not already be working full-time. 

What does a college education add to you? 

If you do HBO, you can move on to manager or team leader chemistry. A leadership position also appeals to me very much. I enjoy teaching people something. 

Do you do anything besides your studies? 

I’m in the promotion team of my study program since this school year. I can then give information to schools. I love showing people what we offer. During corona, it became clear how important it is to develop a vaccine or at least help people in the hospital to heal. I think it's really important to do. 

They had asked me to join the promotion team because I had obtained all credits during both study years. I can also really tell you what the training entails, how I experience it and what I want to do with it. They also want to show that. 

What do you want to do next? 

Next year I would like to do an internship at a medicine company, to discover whether I like it that much. But my ultimate dream is to work at the NFI (Nederlands Forensisch Instituut, Dutch Forensic Institute), to do a police investigation there. That's the work you see at CSI Miami and things like that. I want to help people with my work. I certainly want to be able to identify the correct perpetrator based on research. I delve deeply into murder cases and disappearance cases in the Netherlands because I find that very interesting. I think it’s very important that people or relatives receive an answer to their questions. So dealing with DNA seems cool to me. I don't know exactly what it is, but I kind of have an urge to help people this way. 

What do you find important about a later job? 

I think it’s very important that people know about each other what they do and who they are. That you have a good relationship with each other, that you feel at ease and that you enjoy going to work every day. I also think it is important that people can support me with certain activities. Good communication is also important. And of course, I want my work to contribute, that I help people with it. 

What do you think about studying and living in Brainport Eindhoven? 

I think Summa is a nice school. I feel safe there and it's nice. Studying is all very easy and communication is always clear to me. You can always go to someone if there’s something wrong. With teachers, your mentor or a confidential adviser. In my opinion, Summa accompanies very well. 

With corona, it was all a bit less. I just had lessons for the first six months, but after that, it was all online. I found that quite tough, to keep your concentration when you're looking at a screen all day and you're at home in one room with several people. So we still didn't have a practice at school, while practice is very important in MBO. Fortunately, we were eventually able to practice for two days every two weeks. That was very nice. But that was only two or three months. So I didn't have much practical experience at school, so that was difficult when I started an internship. But luckily they were all understanding. 

Brainport Eindhoven is also a nice region to study in. Eindhoven is a nice city to study in. Summa is located on the TU/e ​​grounds and we are located in the Fontys building, so you often see a bit of technology. For example, I saw a solar car from Solar Team Eindhoven and Luca from TU/Ecomotive and drones from Blue Jay Eindhoven flying. That's super fun. I've always found that interesting. 

What else would you like to tell other students in Brainport Eindhoven? 

Just do it! If you don't like it, you can always stop. You are still young and you can still study. So just go do it. If it doesn't work, you know that. I'm very easy at that, but I would recommend everyone to study what they like. You will always get there.