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A portion of Emilia's winning essay:
My fascination with science, research, and the wonders of medicine first
engraved itself distinctly in my memories of childhood. I recall that at the
same time I began to speak fluent English during the first years of
elementary school, I also mastered a sharp knowledge of the contents of my
mother's medicine cabinet and many Polish medicinal herbs. I remember myself
reciting the titles of these naturopathic remedies for common ailments to my
puzzled second grade classmates. I also poured over their Latin names in the
encyclopedia, giving myself a premature education in taxonomy.
Science always had the best of me - the gift I most anticipated as a little girl was
the beginner's microscope and slide set that I acquired on my eighth
birthday. I always wanted to know why oil and water did not interact fondly
and how emotion such as sadness provoked a flushed face and tears. It only
seemed like the natural progression of life when I decided to officially
pursue in education my passion for the workings of science, medicine and
healing. My curiosity for answering the questions arising around the complex
machinery of the earth and the human body has not wavered; neither has my
interest for spreading proper instructions for care and healing in the
everyday vernacular to every person, regardless of race, status, or creed.
During my high school career I had the opportunity to partake in an organic
chemistry class at the very unique Bridgeport Aquaculture School research
laboratory where I synthesized acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) from scratch.
With the classic laboratory composition notebook in hand, I whet my appetite
for professional science: my fascination with the proceedings of research
was stronger than ever. As I learned to work with laboratory instrumental
analysis methods including gas chromatography, high-performance liquid
chromatography, digital UV/Visible spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and
atomic absorption spectroscopy, I felt a special feeling dawn on me: I could
navigate the science laboratory as would an artist the color palette, or the
skillful dramatist the written word by delivering my discoveries and
conclusions to the populace. I saw that ultimately, this art of science
would help me provide answers to motives I have connected with intensely:
the questions I asked about the environment during childhood, cancer
therapy, drug and chemical safety, and the delivery of revelations
appropriate in their benefit to the research world, and the patient for whom
this work would bear significance for their health, quality of life, and
alleviation of their pain. I feel tingles of pride and excitement when my
friends ask me about science and medical concerns. I am contented by the
expanse of knowledge involving the complex engineering of nature that has
given rise to the amazing compositions of absolute precision that is life.
At present, my interests in the medical sciences center on primary care,
microbiology and eventually working on personal pursuits to increase the
quality of simple, reliable medical literature available to the general
public and to new immigrants. Proper information is key to prevention. I
would enjoy being a physician's assistant or medical doctor with additional
specialties in research and publication -- a niche that I embrace deeply.
During my first year of undergraduate study, I was deeply affected by a
cancer tragedy, and my passion for knowledge about cancer therapies was
heightened. Consequently, my vision in this field of biological study
solidified. My lifelong interest in medicinal herbs also has the structure
of a professional goal. As an extra ambition, I would like to help bridge
the United States health industry with the prospering European market of
effective, regulated herbal pharmaceuticals. I am committed to bringing
science and compassion together, and in the future, I would enjoy pursuing
professional pedagogy in medicine. My background of cultural life
experiences and appreciation for courses of the humanities and science have
served as an appropriate bolster for approaching the daily life with an open
mind and particular sensitivity to cultural awareness. Just recently, a
medical professional I spoke with regarded my interest in languages as me
wanting to be a "doctor to the poor people." I love the art of languages in
their own regard because they come easily to me. But, in contemplating the
motive of that trite statement, I surely wanted to know the differences felt
in the soul of a "wealthy" person as opposed to a "poor" person as they
experience or witness childbirth; the differences between their reaction to
a cancer diagnosis, their knowledge of a terminal illness, and the
differences between their suffering. I felt my throat tighten at this
individual's statement, and my arms became tense, but I did not flinch or
utter a word. My mother had to leave nursing school in Poland as she fled to
come to the United States for freedom during a time of Communist oppression.
My grandmother left medical school in Poland after the Second World War to
take care of her devastated family and siblings whose home was claimed by
the Communist regime. By the means of the individual who made the statement,
they were poor, too. They did not speak English back then, health insurance
was unheard of, and they had their lives interrupted. But they were rich
with compassion. They were both intelligent, confident young women at a time
when many women were not allowed or did not even consider attending higher
education. I would like to finish what they were forced to leave behind. I
believe there is a common language upon which medicine rests, that of most
efficiently applying science, compassion, and a special tolerance towards
physical strife, people's differences, emotional agony, and the joy of
recovery. Every person is a unique being, and the language of caring is
understood by any human regardless of economic or background status. As an
aspiring student of the biological and medicinal sciences, I feel that being
in tune with a person's social-cultural attitude and breaking language
barriers is a manner by which trust is affirmed. Pain does not discriminate,
and the most trustworthy healers of past and present do not either. After
working and volunteering at several healthcare facilities and much time
spent in the laboratory, I feel that my pursuit of medicine is like a cause
that I work for. I do not have a podium and microphone and a raised fist,
just yet, but I feel like it is my mission to aid and educate. Science,
empathy, fighting for people - these are not things that someone wrote in my
9th grade notebook and told me to feel and/or perform. This decision rests
on a lifetime of observances, personal experiences, education, and intense
motivation. This decision is the person I am becoming by daily inspirations.
There is so much scientific medical progress in many nations, and much of it
goes unnoticed by the general public. I intend to never let the stacks of
printed paper bureaucracy sway my personal goals. I hope I am able to meet
as many of my professional medical goals as I am capable of in the near
future, and I plan to continue to be inspired as I have been since
childhood. There is a certain beauty of how the strength of human resilience
often dances with physical frailty, and there is something especially
gratifying when a medical healer can do the best he or she can to make the
two become equally talented partners.
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