Almost all my life, I lived on the beautiful island of Palau. Palau is one of the places that you must visit, as it is also called the Pristine Paradise. The emerald shining ocean, blazing sunset, and shores surrounded by green forests are what keep my island special. The lifestyle in Palau was very peaceful, and I always felt a sense of calmness and freedom there. Growing up, I noticed there were many limitations on medical care in Palau, which inspired me to work in healthcare. For this reason, I chose to attend La Sierra University to study biomedical science as a pre-dental student.
Before the fall quarter started, I was excited to begin a new chapter of my life. During Ignite, I got to meet new people, make new friends (shout out to Dana, Estrella, Karenna, and Hyeri), and I was ready to study something I was interested in. But when school started, my reality did not align with my expectations. After the first day of school, I had to start studying every day, because Biology 111 had daily entrance quizzes. The content was interesting, but I quickly realized that interest alone wouldn’t carry me through the challenges of studying a college-level science class.
As the workload increased, I began to miss home more and more, specifically the times I had with my friends. I missed the days when my friends and I would ask the bus driver to drop us near a dock, so we could jump into the ocean and swim almost every day after school. I did have homework assignments given, but they were often easy for us to finish during school hours. However, it was a different story in college. I had to spend at least five hours every day studying for one class, and about an extra hour to finish one homework assignment. If I wanted to spend time with my friends, I had to give up on studying for that afternoon. I did not know how to manage my time, which made it much more frustrating for me. As time went by, I did not have the same excitement as I did during the start of fall quarter, but I was full of stress and workload. The stress and lack of sleep caught up with me, and having five hours of sleep every day would be normal.
This was when I started to question if studying biology and becoming a dentist was the right path for me. I was even deciding on switching my major to something outside of Biology. I often felt burnt out, not wanting to do anything. I began to think that I had made a mistake in choosing my path. However, as I finished the fall quarter, something changed. While I was talking to my friends and family back home, they encouraged me to do the things I want to do. Fueled by their cheers, I decided to fully commit to my studies and give myself the chance to improve when the Winter quarter started. Starting Biology 112, I gave my full interest to studying, but I still have time for myself to rest and hang out with my friends. I also made a schedule planner so that I could balance my time of studying and rest. As I kept up with studying and actually putting more interest into the classes I was taking, I started to enjoy what I was learning. Surprisingly, I wanted to study for the classes I was taking. Also, I realized that since I came this far, I could go further.
Joining the SEA-PHAGES program and taking Scientific Process was one of the best choices I made, which helped convince me to stick with majoring in biomedical science. These classes introduced me to higher-level lab work that I had never experienced before. I really enjoyed performing different experiments and learning new techniques as I worked with bacteriophages and octopuses. As the quarter progressed, I began to feel more confident in what I wanted to do for my path, and even felt like I was a real scientist. Even when the work was hard, I enjoyed the challenges that were given, and I started applying the things I learned from class to different elements I saw in my daily life. When winter quarter was over, I was no longer trying to survive college, but learned to enjoy the things I was going through.
Now that I look back at how far I have come, it feels like it all passed in the blink of an eye. If Palau was the place that shaped who I am, then I believe that La Sierra University is the place that will shape me into the person that I aspire to be. With the time I have, I hope to enjoy each moment as I learn about the things I love, and share the journey with the friends I’ve made along the way.
—Ahmi Shin, Class of 2028: Biomedical Science/Pre-dentistry