I began my journey in college thinking that I would become a pharmacist. I was in school for about a year and, honestly, I was getting burned out. I was going through the motions and not really enjoying it. I was thinking to myself: “I shouldn’t be doing this if I don’t enjoy it.” But I was also thinking about how much money I would make once I got out of school.

So, summertime hit and I was on break, and I began thinking about my future. I was thinking about where I was in life and where I will be in a few years. I didn’t like school (though, I pretended to). I really didn’t see myself as a pharmacist, but then again, I was thinking about the paycheck. I felt lost and worried about the future.

Finally, I woke up one day and the light bulb finally went off: "I don’t want to be a pharmacist! I have no passion for pharmacy!" I didn’t know what I was thinking. All I could think about was the paycheck, but I didn’t even consider my own happiness. So, I went before class started in the fall to sign up for a different major. What major? I still had no idea.

My advisor gave me several sheets with information about nursing, radiologic technology, dental hygiene, speech-pathology, and more majors. I thought about what I could see myself doing. I knew I wanted to help people, hands-on, in a medical setting. Nursing! I’ll study nursing!

So I went back to my adviser the next day to switch my major. I told her that I wanted to do nursing. Well, there was bad news about nursing. I didn’t do well enough in one of my math courses to make it into nursing. It was a hard blow. I couldn’t stop the tears. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with my life at this point. I couldn’t decide what I wanted to be. All I knew was, I wanted to help people somehow.

My advisor tried to comfort me (bless her; she is one of the reasons I chose my major and I love her for it). She told me that this wasn’t the end of the road and I would find something I love doing. Sometimes it just takes time. She showed me the other papers again with the dental hygiene, radiologic technology and speech-pathology options on it.

“Speech pathology? What even is that?” I thought to myself. I read the overview and asked my adviser exactly what they do. Little did I know, my life was about to change. She gave me a summary of what they do. She told me to think really hard about what I wanted to do and I could always change my mind. Nothing is set in stone. I decided, based on what she told me what speech pathologists do, that this would be my best bet when it came to helping people hands-on. I chose speech pathology. But honestly, it felt like it chose me.

I started school in the fall and immediately began speech pathology courses. I can honestly say, it was love at first class meeting. I immediately fell in love with this major. I would be able to help people from all walks of life and people of all ages, which is exactly what I wanted to do. I started reading books about speech pathology and looking up things about the subject. This is what I was meant to do.

Now, here I am, with only two semesters left for my undergraduate studies, and I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life. There are so many things that you can do within the realm of speech pathology and I love it! I found what makes my heart happy!