College has always been part of my future. It’s been ingrained into my brain that after high school I’d continue on for at least another four years, not necessarily being something that I was forced into, but something that was almost expected. This seems to be true among most students as I spoke with one of my classmates and she had a similar experience to me. She had a dream to attend culinary school, but then due to her parents expectation, she pursued college. Both my parents went to college so it’s as if I’ve been headed in that direction since I was young. It’s something that I have always wanted to do, just with a different intended major. I’ve always been a good student, striving to receive good grades all grade school and through high school. Once again relating to the girl I spoke to, we are both extremely academically driven and strive for validation, so college seemed to be the only proper choice after high school.
When I was young, I originally wanted to be a middle school teacher. I would always play pretend, making lesson plans and instructing my imaginary students, but as I got older, I realized I didn’t enjoy children that much. I began to think about how I would be teaching the same subjects over and over again which seemed draining and not something I’d want to continue my entire life. After the time period of my dreams to be a teacher, it quickly shifted into the medical field. I was constantly injured, mainly with broken bones or sprained joints, so I was consistently in and out of orthopedic offices getting x-rayed, MRIs, or casted. I found it more and more interesting as I kept returning, learning more and more about the human anatomy. Not only to pursue my interest, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve noticed how nice it is to have money. The lifestyle I’m striving towards is expensive, so I wanted a job where I’d be making a good steady income. Once realizing I wanted to become some type of orthopedic surgeon, Biology classes became more and more interesting and easier and easier because I recognized the importance for my future career.
One of the main reasons I kept getting injured was due to lacrosse. After I tore both my hamstrings I almost had to stop playing. At this point, I had no interest in continuing onto a collegiate level. Once my hamstrings allowed me to get back into things, I finally started to take everything more serious. That was until mid recruitment, I shattered my thumb for the second time. This was then the first bone surgery I had to undergo and it really solidified my interest in the orthopedic field. I finally decided that lacrosse was something I was passionate enough about that I felt I wanted to continue on with. University of Mary Washington was nowhere on my radar until I got recruited by them. Finally deciding to come here was one of the best decisions I’ve made. I’ve made friends through my team, I have so many new role models that inspire me not only on the field, but also in the classroom and professional field. I believe it was the best fit to give me the opportunities I now have available.
Relating back to when I spoke to one of my classmates, even though we have different paths we want to follow, she wants to pursue a communications major while I want to pursue biomedical sciences, we have such similar ideas where we want to actually be involved and hands on. It really highlights that even though we have different likes regarding major, we strive towards the same academic and validating goals and ended up in the same place.