Personal Narrative: A Career In The Biological Field

As a senior in highschool, one of my future goals is to become either a doctor or an administrator in health sciences. As long as I can remember, I had a fascination with animal documentaries when Animal Planet was very popular. However, then in high school, I was introduced to the Human Body, and it fascinated more than ever. I want to become a doctor because I have the drive to save other people’s lives.

I have always had an interest in the human body and animal anatomy. I've studied it on my own with coloring books, online programs and thru home dissection kits. It is fascinating to learn the numerous ways our bodies function. I completed an anatomy and physiology course through our home school coop. I learned a lot of important information that will help me advance in my education and career.

In seventh grade, Mrs. McCarty taught my science class. We started dissecting animals and learning about the human body and we had to memorize muscles, bones, and structures in the body and how it all worked together. I originally thought that I wanted to be a veterinarian as my career, but from the first dissection of a cow eye I knew that I wanted to be a surgeon instead. We dissected a frog, a cow bone, a cow eye, and so much more. Mrs. McCarty’s science class sparked my passion for learning anatomy. I remember building a model of a cell in her class, which I still have on display in my house. Her class was so helpful

Ever since I can remember I have stayed busy by participating in every activity I could get my hands on. Spending so much of my time working on getting that perfect pass, mastering a triple pirouette, and focusing on school  has taught me what it means to have a hard work ethic. Through being involved in so much and having many people’s support I have learned who I want to be. My grandmothers have impacted my life in unimaginable ways and encourage me to strive for what I want to be: a marine biologist.

What I would see myself in 10 years would be working as a biologist, the work I’ll be doing would be studying types of plants and doing research on them. The career that I’ll have would be a scientist that studies on types of plants. Choosing this goal is important to me because my sister and dad made me feel inspired and makes me be hard-working for my subjects at school. The satisfaction that provides that if I discover some kind of new plant, I would name it after my name or other names and would do experiments or travel the world. I would say that my school provides subjects like science and talks about them more when you go up a grade.

Have you ever dissected a cat before? When I was in high school, I took anatomy and physiology. From this class I learned that I actually took an interest in this subject appreciable amount. When it came time to take tests, I did not even mind studying because I had found it remarkably interesting. From my interest in the class, I ended up getting an A. In my second semester of taking this class, we were told that we had to dissect a cat. The thought of dissecting a cat frightened me because I was going to be exposed to the guts of the cat. Nobody in my group wanted to make the first cut, thus I took one for the team. The first cut I made was on the side of the stomach; I was really gentle, as if I was performing surgery on a live person. It was not easy to cut through the skin of the cat. My teacher saw that I had been struggling to cut the cat open, therefore he came to help out the group. My teacher had told me that I was not going to hurt it in any way, because of this I started looking at it differently, the cat was dead and I should not be afraid of dissecting it. I later realized that from that experience I knew I wanted to someday pursue a career in surgery for humans. After my adventure from dissecting the cat I did some research on becoming a surgeon and I found interesting information on their education requirements, job responsibilities and the job outlook/salary.

Throughout my numerous years in grade school, science had always been a subject that fascinated me. In my mind, I always knew that I wanted to pursue a career dealing with science, but I was unsure of which aspect that I wanted to pursue. However, during my senior year in high school I was allowed to select the science course that I took that year and due to my curiosity for the functions of the human body, anatomy was a no brainer. As I got deeper and deeper into the anatomy course, I became more and more fascinated and knew that I had found my passion; the human body and the functions of the numerous parts. It was in this course that I began to understand what was happening to some of my loved one's bodies as they tried to fight cancer, an idea which I was completely unfamiliar with at the time.

Science. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes it as a “knowledge about or study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observation”. As I, an 11th year school student (3rd year high school student), have proceeded through my school years of learning and studying science, I have encountered many subject/topics I have genuinely enjoyed. I have also faced many topics, however, I did not enjoy. Along with teachers and people who have made my learning experience who less enjoyable. As a musician and athlete, I have many intriguing questions and interest that involve musical instruments, sports and other things that could possibly be answered this year in Physics class.

Since the day I could talk I have always been drawn towards caring for animals and with that I am pursing a career in large animal medicine. Amongst the challenges that I have encountered personally throughout my life I have always wanted to return back to the family dairy farm before ever thinking about furthering my education. As I went through high school the farm was all that was on my mind until one day I receive the most upsetting news where my parents were going to be separating and the farm was going to be sold. When coming to the realization that there wasn’t going to be a farm to come back to I decided to go outside of my comfort zone and reach out in the industry to view other things available. When doing so I was asked many times

Astronauts, police officers, and professional athletes are just a few of my dream jobs from when I was a little squirt. Well, reality finally hit me and I realized that I’m about seven inches too tall to cram into a rocket and head of to the moon. Lets just face it, I sure as heck am not running around in a outfit with a badge protecting people. Professional athlete, well I just won’t start with that. Once reality actually hit I came up with an idea of having an interest in a future career as a fishery biologist. Ever since I caught my first fish years ago, I have just been full of questions about fish and how fish work. To this day I am amazed on how these wonderful creatures function their daily lives. Fish are able to take your hook

I believe that you don’t know what you really want until you experience it yourself. It had been a childhood dream of mine to be like Jacques Cousteau and explore the world making extraordinary discoveries. For a while the career I was most interested in was a marine biologist. I thought that this was the best way for me to be like the Cousteaus. As I grew older I started to realize that I don’t like science, especially biology. Not long after this I had an opportunity to try scuba diving. At first I was skeptical and didn’t know if I wanted to try it but I decided to give it a try. I ended up liking it a lot. Afterwards my dad was jokingly asking if I wanted to be like our instructor and be a scuba diver and I said, “actually yes, I do.”

Our trip to science world was awesome. I learned so much about digestion. I learned that your food turns into a smoothie when it goes into your stomach. I also learned that your food gets pushed down the esophagus by muscles instead of sliding down. The digestion show on centre stage was awesome, I learned so much.

Three. That is the number of women who have helped me to be who I am today. A nurturer, a teacher, and a mentor. The nurturer taught me how to work hard. The teacher made me realize I could be a healer; a doctor. The mentor helped me realize I enjoy research. Because of those women, I know that I am a strong candidate for this particular PREP program. Because will work hard, and because I have so much to learn and to give. I know I want to do research in the biomedical field. I also know that I cannot do it alone.

I have been trained to become a chemist since the first year of my high school. This is a challenging career, requiring analytical thinking, attention to details, and adaptability. It is also a well-paying and promising career. However, chemistry is not what I have always dreamt of doing the rest of my life. As someone who is concerned about the development of sub-Saharan Africa, I came to a conclusion that what this region needs is not only scientists but also people who know and understand leadership and international affairs. In this paper, I compare my strengths and abilities to the qualities that one should have in order to excel as a chemist and a diplomat.