Self-Motivation and Smiles

I have always had an inquisitive, questioning mind, and science has always been there to quench my thirst for answers to the unanswerable. I can vividly remember some of the defining moments that drew me into the intrigue of science. “Raising” mealworms to beetles in kindergarten, making rock candy out of sugar water in first grade and dissecting owl pellets in third were all experiences that were far more exciting to me than any other activities that we did in elementary school.

As my interest in science grew, so did my parents’ approval and pride in my achievements in science and math. The encouragement for me to pursue a career in science probably far preceded my knowledge of its existence. Even though I believe much of my current decision to pursue a career in health is based on my own motivation, there is certainly the underlying factor of the expectations from my parents.

My very first, somewhat thought-out career interest came to me when I was about nine or ten. I loved bugs, bug facts, and anything of that nature. So, my mother purchased me a variety of books on the topic, upon my request. I must point out that my mother was quite frugal, until it came to academics. If I had demonstrated equal interest in dancing and being a ballerina, I am almost certain that my desire for related books would be met with a half-hearted proposition to go to the library. Luckily, my desire was for insects and crawling things of that sort, and I read in one of the books that there was in fact, a person whose job it was to look for and study bugs all day long. For the next year or two, when met with the question, “And what do you want to be when you grow up?” I would straighten up and clearly respond, “An entomologist.”

Over the course of my middle school and high school years, my career interests were: a veterinarian, a zoologist, a doctor, a psychologist, and a pediatrician. Interspersed between these science-related careers were a few short-lived ambitions (florist, chef, fashion designer, and singer) that did not elicit the desired response of encouragement and pride from my parents. Being that I was, and to a point still am, that little girl who just wants her parents to smile proudly upon her, I stuck with the sciences.

When college application time came around in my senior year of high school, I was pretty sure I wanted to major in Biology because of my positive experiences with great Bio teachers throughout my life as well as the emphatic excitement of this prospect from my parents. However, my interpretation of declaring a major was more of a way to create an extension of an existing strength or interest as opposed to a path that will give you the knowledge for a specific career.

When I clicked that dropdown box on the online applications, or perused through the long lists on the paper applications, the vast number and types of majors both astounded and worried me. There I was, with only seventeen years of life experience (of which about six or seven really count toward a situation like this) and now I was to choose how to spend the next four years plus, and quite possibly the rest of my life. As I scrolled through novel (to me) majors like American Studies, Armenian Language, and Bilingual Education, I stopped at good-old, clear-cut, make-my-parents-proud, Biological Sciences. After the stress of applications, majors, deadlines, and scholarships, I was pleased to find out that I had been accepted to the University of Southern California.

Within my first year as a freshman majoring in Biological Sciences, I discovered that the intellectual journey I would have in this major did not allow for many electives, and the only significant reprieve would be the general education classes. This one-track education was not what I expected from my university experience. I wanted my future self to emerge as a well-rounded, sophisticated, and interesting.

Before the end of my first semester, I decided that I still liked Biology, but I liked a lot of other subjects too. I had to muster up a lot of courage to tell my parents that I was “going to take a lot of the same classes, but have more flexibility under a different major—Health and Humanity.” I was met with a lot of resistance that I believe was my parents’ disappointment that I had not continued to pursue a Bachelors of Science degree. Yet, later my mother told me that she was only trying to make sure that I was making the change for a good reason. And a good reason it was. Health and Humanity, with an emphasis on health and the mind would provide me with the technical side of the science that initially intrigued me, as well as the sociological and psychological aspects that allows one to relate the technicality to the individual on a personal level.

I am now looking in the direction of Healthcare Management, because of its importance to the health field as a whole as well as the convenience of working business hours. I feel that I have reached a happy medium in my career pursuit that will make me proud of my personal and educational accomplishments as well as put those smiles on my parents’ faces.