Ones motivated career path is often found through natural inclinations, while other times, one finds the
direction they plan to travel through intricate searching. It was a combination of both process for me, in
which my goal of becoming a medical doctor was a result of the opportunities that presented
themselves to me and my reflection of them as well as my willingness to find the best suited career path
for me.
Once I received my invitation to attend the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine, I felt so
honored. The conference was geared toward high school students participating in a ten day event
immersed in medically related activities. Being a high school student, I thought this was my chance to
gain an in depth perceptive about the field of medicine. I was familiar with the medical profession from
family friends that were physicians and other health care related practitioners, as well as by observing
my own pediatrician. While I had a general interest in the field of medicine, up unto this point I was not
entirely sure about a career in medicine, in particular becoming a physician. As a result of my curiosity,
where I intended to find out early on, if being a physician was right for me, I decided to attend the
event. While the conference is conducted at different locations across the United States, I chose the
location in Houston as that is where my residency was time of the invitation.
After making a whole host of arrangements to attend the conference, including signing my living
agreement and getting up to date shot records, as I would be staying in close quarters with over four
hundred students at a hotel, it was time to attend the event. On the first day of arriving with my family
after church, as the hotel was twenty five minutes from my house, I excitedly went to put my bags in my
room and to go meet my roommates. Upon entering my room, I saw I had two other roommates, which
I thought was strange since it was not mentioned in the student package, and I could not recall any
hotels with three beds. As I looked around the room, I saw two queen sized beds and looking to the
corner, I noticed a relatively small cot with a yellow blanket on top. Upon inquiring of my roommates,
they told me that there were only two beds, which they had already took and that I would be sleeping
on the cot. Now, being that I am flexible for the most part, I did not mind much. My mother on the other
hand thinking about how much she had already spent on the conference, was feeling less than flexible
about the situation she believed was unfair. It became an issue to the point where my mom ended up
complaining to the head coordinator of the event. I recall being mildly embarrassed but I also could not
see myself sleeping on the small cot for ten full days, which I also thought was a little unfair but did not
want to speak up in fear it would lead me not being able to attend the event I was looking so forward to
attending.
However, the coordinator reassured my mother that every three days, each roommate would rotate
beds and that after three days, I would not be sleeping on the cot again. My mother being informed,
cooled down and let me continue with the events. I was grateful that the little distortion** did not ruin
my time at the life changing event. During the national youth leadership forum on medicine, I not only
had the chance to live for seven days with other aspiring physicians, but to participate in a whole host of
events that I never thought I would as a high school students. I had the chance to participate in the
Question and Answer section with physicians, including a obsteronics***, a paraplegic young female,
and representatives from NASA, as well as tour a medical school and sit with and have lunch with
medical students, while participating daily in mock medically related activities. I had the chance to learn
early on about health related topics that include HIPPA, suturing, and the likes.
As a result, I not only had the chance to discover my love and passion for medince by having hands on
experience but I also had the chance to discover what I was interested in. For instance, after conducting
a simulation cather use a local teaching hospital, I discovered while I was skilled in the more technical
aspect of medicine, this part of medicine was less interesting to me than the mock physician sessions in
which we used patient and physician interaction. Equally, while I was uncomftorable with watching knee
surgery at the conference, I was heavily involved in the participation of ethical dilmemma discussions,
such as in relation to stem cell research, which encouraged my interest in areas, such as medical law and
ethics. I even ended up becoming well aquintated with the head coordinator as a result of the earlier
distraction and towards the end of the event because of the close living conditions, many participants
got a bad case of the flu and had to leave early, one being my one of my roommates. As a result, me and
my other roommate moved rooms and I got to sleep on a king sized bed for the remainder of the event,
which was worth sleeping on the cot. My inquisitive approach on these matters helped in our facilitators
even chosing me as one of the few speakers to give a closing speech, which surprised me as there were
many more out spoken students than me, which let me know its not only the talkative that can have a
career as a physician but those that are less talkative with hard work make just as great physicians, in
which I was able to encourage other students in which I had made many friends throughout the event.
My love for medicine was instantly sparked after the conference, I saw myself as not only being a
positive contributor to the field of medicine by being a physician. From than on my goals and activities
further showed me that being a physician was the path I wanted to follow. The week right after
conference, I reached out to my pedetrician and asked her if I could shadow her. I can recall loving every
minute of the experience. I was thrilled about the opportunity to get to see the patient physician
interaction with a doctor and children at a time when I was starting out high school. As a observer, I
could see myself as a physician and viewed myself in the physians shoes. Even after her rounds, the
physician talked to me about her days of being under the soviet union when she lived in Russia and why
she thoughout universal health care would not work. I saw boat loads of paper on her desk and asked
her if she would like to go to lunch and she laughed and said in her accent no I have so much work you
go run along and I remember thinking even early on that if I have to work hard and spend long hours at
being a doctor, I would not mind because this is what I deceided that I want to do.