"The One Where Steph Goes to PA School!"

Hello! My name is Steph, and here's a little look into my life... About 4 years ago I lost my grandmother from stage 4 colon cancer. As one of her personal caregivers, I was devastated. I spent many days blaming myself for not knowing how I could have made her battle with cancer less unbearable. Unfortunately, at the time I was a veterinary technician working long hours in the ICU and never understood how cancer progressed and how it could affect the one that I loved so drastically. After my grandmother passed, I spent the next 2 years working closely at the Rutgers Cancer Institute and acted as one of their advocates on preventing colon cancer for many middle aged people at higher risk. Throughout my time there I also started a Relay for Life team and raised over 2k for cancer research. Although my grandmothers fight was over, my passion for helping those in need grew stronger. 

After I left my career as a veterinary technician I started to pursue physical therapy in hopes to learn more about the field and gain hands on patient care experience. I fell in love. I fell in love with the constant patient interaction and watching how these patients progressed through therapy made me realize I was on the right path. Once I started to work closely with patients I found that my true passion was to work with cancer, internal and emergency medicine. As I continued to search for what I wanted to do and be I was conflicted. I loved my job as a PT Aide and loved being an animal specialist, however, it seemed like it was never enough. I knew I was destined for more and had to make a bigger difference. That's when I found the Physician Assistant profession. 

During 2019 I started to dabble into the PA world and started to work towards applying to PA schools. I became determined and engaged so I started to do more observation hours at Hunterton Medical. I loved it. I felt like I was right at home. My love for pharmacology, oncology and virology, all came into play. I was able to engage in the PA work and fell in love. Once COVID hit I decided to help by becoming an EMT. Once I graduated and obtained my license I took another step forward in helping and became an EMT Instructor Aide. As I continued to improve my application and seek more ways in helping others, I applied to a few schools in high hopes I would be one of the 4.2% that had been asked for an interview. 

As my studies continued, I finally decided to take a leap of faith and submit all my applications. One by one I was rejected by 5 schools. The last school I decided to apply to became my dream school and just like that. After countless hours of studying and redoing prerequisites, countless hours of EMT jobs, and countless hours of stressful moments, my resilience paid off. 

I am honored and forever grateful for the journey I have endured. I have been through more medical complications being surgery or anxiety throughout my years then most, but I never gave up or lost hope of my dream. My dream to heal has finally been answered and I am ready to start the next chapter of my life. Therefore, for the first time in my life, I am the one asking for help. Please help me make my dream come true, because at the end of the day, this is my biggest chapter yet... "The One Where Steph Goes To PA School" =) 

Thank you!