How are you shar­ing your time and/​or tal­ents with oth­ers now? How do you hope to do so in the future?

I have been giv­ing advice to high school stu­dents who are curi­ous about col­lege. Through Broad­lawns Med­ical Cen­ter in Des Moines, I can inter­act with high school stu­dents and talk about what I did to get to where I am today. I share infor­ma­tion about my high school intern­ship with T.E.C.H (Train­ing and Edu­ca­tion for a Career in Health­care) and encour­age stu­dents to apply so they can get a feel­ing of what it is like to work in a hos­pi­tal set­ting. It is very reward­ing to be able to have an impact on high school stu­dents who are look­ing for a path toward work­ing in the health­care indus­try.

How are you explor­ing your career and prepar­ing your­self for life after col­lege?

I am cur­rent­ly study­ing to take my GRE, which will help me get ready to apply for physi­cian assis­tant (PA) school. In addi­tion, I plan to job shad­ow a PA and hope­ful­ly estab­lish a rela­tion­ship with some­one who can men­tor me as I progress through school and my career.

What advice would you give to an incom­ing fresh­man?  

One piece of advice I would give to incom­ing fresh­men is to be involved in dif­fer­ent clubs and put your­self out there. A lot of stu­dents for­get to enjoy col­lege and try to only focus on school­work. While school­work is impor­tant, it’s also impor­tant to sur­round your­self with peo­ple who care about you and can sup­port you through the tough times of col­lege.

Who is your biggest inspi­ra­tion and why?

My moth­er is my biggest inspi­ra­tion. She has always been there for me and push­es me to do well in school. If it was not for her hav­ing such bright dreams for me, I do not know where I would be today. I ded­i­cate all of my suc­cess to her. I am not get­ting a col­lege degree just for me, but for both of us.

What’s the best food on cam­pus?  

The best food on cam­pus is the taco truck by Bessey and Kildee Halls. It brings back a lit­tle bit of home and serves as com­fort food for me when­ev­er I need it.