One saying that has stuck with me since I was younger was to never compare myself to others especially when it comes to progress, success, and goals. My grandfather repetitively told me this growing up, and it has been one of the things that pushes me to do better every day. He has always been someone that I have looked up to, and he always has emphasized how important education is. Through all of my ups and downs that I have encountered so far in life, my grandfather is one of the sole reasons why I want to continue my education after undergrad; he has always encouraged me to continue learning and his transitioning into his last stages of life  played a crucial role in sparking my drive to work in the healthcare industry.

Throughout my educational journey, I have applied to various programs to build my enrichment and knowledge in preparation for what I may do in the future; however, not always have my efforts paid off, and many times I failed to achieve my goals. One of the first experiences that I can remember where I felt incomparable to my peers was when I applied to a science and medicine program in my transitioning year between middle school to high school. I went in to take the exam for the program, but received the news that I was waitlisted. At this point in time, I was certain that I wanted to become a doctor, and I only had one opportunity to apply to this program. I waited for weeks to hear from the school whether I had been accepted, however, in the end, I was not accepted and it deterred me from wanting to go into the medical field for years. My grandfather heard of the news that I was not accepted, and told me that there are other programs that could be useful to my education just as much as the science and medicine program was. With that in mind I applied to a more broad education program known as the International Baccalaureate program (IB), and was accepted to attend for all four years of high school. Throughout my years in the program, I lost confidence in myself and experienced a sense of displacement from my classmates. Everyone else seemed more intelligent than myself, they seemed to handle stress better than I could, and I developed a lot of anxiety from my imposter syndrome. This influenced my career goals as well. Instead of pursuing my dreams of being a doctor, I had no idea of what I wanted to do. My grandpa saw my decline in enthusiasm, and tried to encourage me to continue to strive in school while keeping my eyes focused only on what I could do, not what others were doing around me. Eventually, I graduated, and began my  years at the College of William and Mary.

I attended this school for two years, however, I received the news that my grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in the summer before I could start my junior year. This influenced my decision to come home for the summer, and within that same timeframe my boyfriend was in a major motorcycle accident where he was hospitalized for a month. These two instances swayed me to move back home and transfer to Old Dominion University so I could be closer to my loved ones. I spent a lot of time at the hospital with my partner taking care of him during his recovery and also spending time helping my grandpa transition through his last stage of life. During these moments, I felt the desire to help not just my family, but also to help others as well, and I began to take more classes that were related to the healthcare field. I found a profound love for chemistry and learning the fundamentals of our bodies which ultimately influenced my decision to look into professions within the medical field. Due to my experience so far with chemistry, I have decided that I would like to pursue a career within pharmacy.

Although my grandfather is not here with me anymore, I believe that he is still watching me go through my journey in life. Without his wise words, wisdom, and reassurance, I do not think I would be where I am today nor would I have been able to find my passion again for medicine.