All through high school I thought I wanted to be a doctor and for my Senior Project I sought out a doctor that I could job shadow. My teacher warned me many times, “We’ve never been successful getting Seniors to be able to job shadow a doctor in a hospital”. I already had other ideas and dreams…
I was beyond lucky to be able to meet a prestigious OB/GYN at The University of Washington Medical Center. The doctor was not just an OB/GYN, he was a Perinatologist (a high risk pregnancy OB/GYN) – needless to say both my teacher and my high school were shocked when I got permission from the doctor and the hospital to job shadow him for an entire week! The doctor was amazing, he had everything set up and clearance made for me to have almost full access to the Labor & Delivery Floor, signed waivers to be present for C-Sections and other surgeries and of course witness births of babies! I was so excited!
The week aboslutely flew by, save for one minor emarrresing moment (me passing out during a delivery – don’t worry they assured me it happens to everyone and I would be fine in the future! Sure enough that week I witness numerous births and I never had a problem again!), I learned so much and had a great time. The biggest lesson learned that week was the doctors do very little and have almost no contact with their patients. It was the nurses who were assisting the women during their delivery, while the doctors would saunter in right as the babies made their debuts! Right then was when I realized I didn’t want to be a doctor, I wanted to be a nurse.
I graduated from high school the next month (with honors I might add 
) and set off to college. Once starting college I made an awful discovery – science was NOT my forte. I would then continue to push and struggle my way through science class after science class. I never gave up on that goal though of becoming anurse … I was going to do it somehow! After finally getting my AA and all the nursing pre-requisites done, I applied for nursing school. I didn’t inittialy get accepted and was put on the waiting list … I actually made it to spot #1 – but in the end didn’t get in. I was devestated.
During the next year I discovered the joys of blogging and the social media platforms. I also learned that you can make a living doing it! I started blogging for fun and during the first year the majority of what I wrote about was in regards to getting into nursing school. [You can read about my journey HERE] I applied to the nursing program again the next year, but by that time my dreams and aspirations had already began to soar in a different direction. Once again I didn’t get in.
Again, I was devestated, but at that point I was at peace. I believe that things happen for a reason and maybe at this time in my life nursing wasn’t right for me. You can’t say I didn’t try - I worked my butt off for many years and suffered my way through awful science classes. Many people in my life had been tellig me that I should become a writer. I have always loved and excelled in English (both the language and writing ), but I didn’t think that would ever be the job for me. Little did I know how wrong I was!
About the same time I was told about a brand new program at The University of Washington (recognize that school?!), a Bachelors Degree in Media & Communications! They were teaching students to be successful in the PR and social media fields! I immediatly applied to their program and to my excitement was accepted! I am now going to school and taking classes in Facebook, Twitter and Blogging! How cool is that?!
My GPA has since skyrocketed, I’m LOVING my classes, professors, homework, assignments, essays, etc.! I am finally doing something I love and I cannot wait to graduate in about a year to enter into the “real world”. If everything works as it should, I am hoping to graduate after Spring Quarter 2012! I am so close and I cannot wait for my future!!
My answer to question #1 in
What was your big dream for yourself when you were 18 and had graduated from high school?
