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Well I’m from a small town and there wasn’t a lot of focus put on graduate programs, you know preparing for graduate programs there because obviously
you’re just in high school. But when I got to college I kind of had a feeling that I wanted to do science. I’d always been interested in it.
Sometimes you don’t know how you got interested in something, you just really like it. I had multiple family members
that were diagnosed with diseases and I actually worked with a kid with Asperger’s syndrome in high school. So I think the combination of those things
sort of geared me in this direction. So like I said once I got to college I really realized that science was the field that I wanted to pursue a career in.
My family, growing up, always put a lot of emphasis on being well rounded so I’ve always tried to be involved in different things
other than just my Biochemistry major because that would probably drive most people insane if that was all you were doing.
I’ve also played the piano since I was eight, I started out as a music minor at KU and then you know the stresses of my major and research
got a little too high so I cut that out but I still play for fun. I’m also on the Student Health Advisory Board for the Watkin’s Health Center.
I’ve been in Lambda Sigma which is a sophomore honors society that really focuses on community service.
I have another job as well, I work at the KU Athletic Department as a Student Equipment Manager.
You really have to have a planner that you write everything down in all the time because if I didn’t I wouldn’t be going where I needed to be.
But you know, it really pays off in the end - especially volunteering and community service. I volunteer at Lawrence Memorial Hospital
in the Oncology Department and also for Heart of America Hospice I have had two patients there, working with people towards the end of their life.
I’ve had to sacrifice, to an extent, a social life. Not too much. You need to have something outside all these extra-curriculars
and research and school to keep you sane. But I definitely don’t do things that a lot of undergraduates
get to do but I have no regrets about that. I really love what I’m doing and it’s been worth it for me.