I recently finished my first year at Centre College and am now gearing up for round two. As much as I have learned and as much fun as I have had while being here, I have already experienced my fair share of comments about my potential major from a variety of people. I have been bombarded with statements from “that’s really hard” to “most people switch out of that one by sophomore year” and even “why don’t you do something that’s easier but will give you the same benefits?”
Whenever I am faced with these questions and comments, I always greet the person with a smile and agree to disagree politely. Frankly, I am not that person. Their interests are not my interests and I enjoy learning about the inner workings of life while they may enjoy solving an impossible math problem, critically analyzing a literary work or painting a masterpiece. What I have found though is that people have forgotten what it’s like to let others enjoy things.
There is always going to be someone who just has to put their two cents in. If an art lover chose to major in art, then leave them be and let them enjoy what they were meant to do because more often than not, they are going to be really good at it. No one will ever have the right to tell others what they are good at and will never have the right to try.
I have wanted to be many things over the course of my short life here on earth, ranging from a geologist to a doctor even a professional dancer (that one is still on the back-burner. I just can’t let it go). I have considered all ranges of professions, but there was one pattern that was always there: they all revolved around science (except for dance, but that one has always been an outlier). My love for science has had a huge presence ever since I was young, and I have never disliked any branch of it, whatever it may be. Science presents us with so many possibilities to study the world today and really learn what the world is made of. It tells us what makes our bodies tick, what makes the world go round and everything in between.
When I was younger, I always participated in my school’s science fairs and that is where my struggle, albeit a little one compared to what others have faced, began. It was around my third grade year and I had spent countless hours and weeks working on my project that focused on the different viscosities, or the internal friction (the thickness and “stickiness”), of different liquids. I was so proud of my little experiment and even more proud of how my presentation board turned out. I had created numerous charts and graphs for my board in order to show the results of my experiment on PowerPoint with a little help from my parents because, I mean, I was in third grade after all. When the day of the science fair came, I almost placed. That’s right, I said almost. All I ended up getting was a participation ribbon, which was fine to me because I had fun doing it. What bothered me though as well as my parents was the fact that I didn’t place because one of the substitute teachers for the school system insisted that I didn’t do the work myself, that my board looked too nice and that it was impossible that I could have actually done it. This teacher was not even a judge, but because he felt strongly about my lack of true work, he made it so that I achieved less than what I had worked for.
Fast forward to my high school career. I took every AP science course my school had to offer because I love science. But my AP physics/AP chemistry teacher didn’t seem to have the faith in me that he gave to so many other students. I didn’t do as well in those two classes as I would have liked, and I knew I could try harder. That was my own fault for not stepping up to the standards I had set for myself. It didn’t help, however, that my teacher would laugh at me. I would ask them a question or for advice and they would look at me and just shrug their shoulders and grin like it was a secret joke that I wasn’t in on. They never expected a grade higher than around a 70 on my tests for me either. They found great joy in getting my hopes up about my grade improving only to watch my face drop when tests were returned to us. That was the second major and last time, I had decided, that I was ever going to let someone get to me like that. A teacher is supposed to help you become better, not ruin you. My love for science seemed to be a trend to most people because everyone says they are going to be a doctor.
Finally, we can fast forward to my first year at Centre, the year of my dreams. I would just like to note that the professors here have already fulfilled a dream that I thought impossible because they actually care about my improvement. Granted, I have had numerous people that are not teachers tell me that I should switch my majors because I am making more work for myself, but I just nod, smile and continue on my way because I am tired of people telling me what I can and cannot do. I decided that I was going to focus on those who supported me rather than tried to change my mind. From different people I have been told that doing a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) major is difficult and not many people stick to it. I have been told that I am crazy, that they could never do it themselves, that I will quickly change my mind once I get going. I have been steered away from doing too much, but I am still going to be taking two to three science courses a semester for the rest of my undergraduate career and then on to medical school to study pathology.
My end goal is to become a pathologist so that I can be active in helping those who are diagnosed with more serious illnesses. I have grown up hearing about my mother’s clinical nurse specialist stories in the oncology unit. I have heard numerous heart breaking stories as well as happy ones, but all of them have made me want to be behind the scenes helping those who have to handle things no one should ever have to deal with. I also would like to work for the Center for Disease Control one day, so as you can see, I aim high. If I aimed too low, I would be able to reach my goals with little effort and then my sense of accomplishment would not be as great, as least for me. I prefer to hold myself to a high standard, raising that theoretical bar higher than I probably should but it is so I have something to work for. I know my limits and I know what I can and cannot do. But I also know that I have a knack for slacking and being a procrastinator. By setting my bar so high, I am challenging myself to become a better me. I am aware of the challenge that I am facing by studying BMB, but it is a challenge that I welcome. If I can tackle this personal challenge, I will have proven to myself that I can do anything I set my mind to which is how this world should be. We should not set up little girls, or even boys, for failure.
This is why I love Girls for Engineering Math and Science, an all girls club that visits middle and elementary schools once a week to do science experiments, so very much. Elementary and middle school girls are being encouraged to continue with what they love and are learning to not be told by anyone that they can’t or are not smart enough like I was lead to believe. If anything, my experiences have made me all the more determined and stubborn. Being a science major is not something that a person should be scared of and I am determined to get my degree with BMB to show that yes I can do it and I will. This is the kind of mindset that teachers and friends should have when talking to students and friends about their futures. We need more of a yes you can attitude with science majors instead of a maybe consider something else unless you’re sure attitude. Science is not an easy path but neither is English, math, a foreign language or even art. Each one is going to have its obstacles and we should be telling these potential majors that they can do it. Not every student is going to be like myself and suddenly get more determined to prove themselves. On the contrary, one sentence or one word can make or break a student’s dreams. I never thought that I would be ruined the way that I was educationally, my self-confidence on tests plummeting. But we as a society can change this and make the things you hear as a potential science major more positive, it just takes a little faith in those that are trying.