If you were to tell me I was going to be a psychology major two years ago I never would’ve believed you. Ever since the 8th grade, I’ve wanted to be a pediatric physical therapist, which is why going into my freshman year of college I planned on majoring in human biology and my schedule was filled with multiple different math and science classes. I wanted to become a pediatric physical therapist because I'd seen first-hand how much they can impact a person's life in my own life. I was in physical therapy from the time I was learning to walk until I was about 11 years old. During that time, my physical therapists had a huge impact on my life and I wanted to have that same impact on the people I planned to work with in my future career.

Unfortunately, after taking two lower level math and science classes I figured out that the human biology wasn't for me. It's not that I no longer cared about helping disabled children, but the fact I knew I wouldn't be able to pass the science and math classes I would need to take to major in human biology. After this realization, I started exploring different majors and I was very intrigued by the psychology major. It wasn't like one day I wanted to be a physical therapist and the next day I woke up wanting to be a psychologist, but the more I thought about the idea the more I saw myself really enjoying the field.

During my last two years of high school and my freshman year of college, I became very passionate about advocating for people with mental illnesses, such as depression or eating disorders, because I've been in their shoes. I struggled with my mental health for a few years in high school and also going into college, so I knew where they were coming from and I was compelled to help in any way I could. Without having a degree I could use to help the mentally ill, I felt like the only thing I could do was spread the word about mental illness to try and combat the stigma that comes with it.

My passion for fighting the stigma against mental illness and the idea of me possibly majoring in psychology went great together. First semester of my sophomore year I took an intro to psychology class and I absolutely loved it. From then on I started thinking about psychology long term and I decided I would like to either become a psychologist or a psychotherapist and I'd also like to work in a rehab center for people with mental illness. I never would've thought I'd be working towards a psychology degree after feeling so sure about being a physical therapist, but I can tell you now that changing my major was the best thing I could've done for myself and for my future.

Before I started college, I thought I was supposed to have my whole future planned out before I even started school. I quickly realized that college is a time where we as students can explore different areas and figure out who we really are as a person and what we want to do with our future. For this reason, I support whatever my fellow peers are majoring in because they are also on that same path of exploration that I'm on and they are working towards a future they think is best for them.