My Name is Katherine Jean Patton, and I am a Junior at ODU. This paper will not be a personal statement to be used as reference for any application, as I am unsure of what career path I want to be taking. This paper will be rather scattered, but I believe including that element will make for the most accurate personal paper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was born in 2005 and had a love of biological sciences since I could walk. I began to show symptoms of depression before the age of 10 and have struggled with mental health since a young age. I was diagnosed with ADHD at about 12 years old and then diagnosed with Aspergers-now identified as autism spectrum disorder- at 15. My mental health has been turbulent, which I channeled into a short-lived academic art career. Throughout all this time, my love for science remained, and gave me the will to keep going- for the majority of my developmental years, science was my reason for living. For this reason, I decided long ago that my life would be dedicated towards the pursuit of information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t yet know what I want my career to be, other than I want a career in science, with a long-term goal of one day being a research scientist towards a cause that will aid our understanding of the world we live in. With the goal of being a research scientist in mind, I will likely have to be a professor at some point, or work for a university or college in order to have access to research and lab equipment, and to have a network with other academics in the field of my work. This is something that I am excited for, as someday I want to help people my age that are stuck in my situation- not knowing what they want to work towards in their life. I know that I do not want to be a professor or teacher full time as my main career, as I do want field experience- As previously stated, deciding what field I want experience in is my main issue. My main struggle with determining a career I would be happy in, is that I have a wide array of interests- making it nigh impossible for me to choose one without having regret for also not choosing the others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am an activist for many causes, one of them being the environment and wildlife conservation. This offers many opportunities, as being passionate about this cause makes many careers possible. The only issue is that no one cares. This has been difficult to come to terms with. By \u201cno one cares\u201d I mean that because the majority of careers in environmental science aren\u2019t geared towards capital gain, and are not human-centered, I will not make a lot of money. This has been a source of stress, as with current and predicted economics in the U.S, I would not be able to live my current lifestyle self-sufficiently. While I am willing to downgrade my lifestyle for a fulfilling career, I realize that environmental conservationism is an uphill battle. This too, is a major point of stress in my life. Going into politics with a background in science is something I see myself doing- but with the pay that a career in environmental science would provide, campaigning would be difficult. Regardless, I strongly believe that no matter what career I pick, advocating for environmental responsibility and conservation is something that I will always make time for, no matter how demanding a job is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have also had an interest in cadavers and human decomposition since a young age, and have strongly considered becoming a medical examiner and even a mortician in the past. I believe that the deceased tell stories that need to be heard, for their loved ones to be able to find closure, and for humans to better understand proper safety and cost-effective methods of risk mitigation. This interest in risk mitigation and macabre has also piqued my interest in reconstructive surgery. With my background in art, and my knack for crafting granting me steady hands, I believe that I may have an advantage in giving people the ability to be happy with their appearance-as well as restore bodily function as much as possible- following a grievous bodily injury. My bedside manner leaves much to be desired, with my main symptom of autism being poor tone control only exasperating the issue. The last thing someone needs after an accident that has gravely injured them is for a medical professional to treat them poorly, and that is not something I am willing to risk. I also do not have the grades for such a pursuit, as symptoms of poorly managed depression left me with poor time management that left a stain on my grades, that is still in the process of being corrected. Poor time management is also the last thing you want in a surgeon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As my academic career at ODU continues, I am reaching out more and more to the major advising center. While I have had many struggles, the advisors and faculty have greatly eased my anxiousness and personal struggles. I am looking forward to taking higher level classes, such as genetics, and hope that what I learn in this class may be the final deciding factor in a career I will find fulfillment in. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My Name is Katherine Jean Patton, and I am a Junior at ODU. This paper will not be a personal statement to be used as reference for any application, as I am unsure of what career path I want to be taking. This… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/katherine-patton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/katherine-patton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/katherine-patton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/katherine-patton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30387"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/katherine-patton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/katherine-patton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/katherine-patton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/katherine-patton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/katherine-patton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/katherine-patton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}