(For a listing of commencement ceremonies, please go to commencement 2007 )
NEVER TOO LATE
A. J. Hartman, Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick , BA, business administration; residence: East Orange, NJ
For A. J., timing was everything. After completing a hitch in the U.S. Air Force, he made three attempts at college but all ended in frustration and failure. I just wasnt ready, when I was in my 20s, to give up my Friday and Saturday night fun to study, he acknowledges. So he completed a hitch in the U.S. Air Force, then worked at what he describes as a series of dead-end jobs ranging from delivering baked goods, driving vans, landscaping, working in hotels and a bank, and providing computer tech support, with forays into training fellow employees and writing tech manuals. He even graduated from a school for disk jockeys, but never hit the airwaves.
What a difference a couple of decades make; by his 40s, A. J. was ready to give up my entire social life to get a degree. Not only did he complete his associate degree, this time attending Essex County College, but he was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa international honor society for two-year college students, graduated with a 3.94 grade point average, and received a full scholarship to Rutgers-Newark. During his two years at Rutgers he completed summer and winter session courses, as well as fall and spring classes, to finish in two years while working. He did well enough to make the deans list for a semester, and is a member of the RBS Marketing and Management Society and serves as the student representative to the Building Committee for the planned new RBS headquarters at 1 Washington Park. He is learning Mandarin Chinese, hoping to position himself within a pharmaceutical firm as a liaison to a Chinese client.
Now, at the age of 49, as he sets his sights on an MBA, he has some words of advice for prospective college students. Some sacrifice is required to earn a degree you have to give up some Saturday nights. But, A. J. states, Better to make a few little sacrifices in your 20s than to give up your whole personal life in your 40s. And, he adds, ask a lot of questions of faculty and staff, since you often can uncover hidden but helpful nuggets of knowledge, such as how to get a locker. Its easier on your back than carting all your books around the campus.
A. J.s biggest fan, his elderly dad, will be at the May 18th commencement for the RBS so he can finally get the college boy he always wanted, according to A. J.
FASHIONING A CAREER DESPITE KATRINA
Daphne Davalie, Newark College of Arts and Sciences, BA, journalism; residence: Lithonia, GA.
Daphne had attended a local university in her native New Orleans for a year when she realized her heart and mind were really in the creative arts, so she transferred to a drama school in New York City. She completed a year, but wasnt able to continue.
But in retrospect, she says, everything worked out for the best. Her decision to leave Xavier a university closed for months by horrendous damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 -- spared Daphne from having her education there disrupted, while leaving the drama school ultimately brought her to Rutgers in Newark. I had considered Rutgers as one of my top choices before leaving New Orleans, she recalls, and I loved the Newark campus being so close to New York City.
At Rutgers she indulged her second love, writing, while using internships to combine that passion with her love of fashion, spending semesters working as an assistant fashion editor on TRACE, a fashion magazine, and appearing as a judge in a digital cable TV fashion reality show, My Model Looks Better Than Your Model, on BET J, part of Black Entertainment Television. She also worked on campus.
Hurricane Katrina proved to be a long-distance ordeal for Daphne and a first-hand trauma for her family. As the flood waters rose, her family left their home in Orleans Parish, fleeing to Mississippi. But when that state also fell victim to flood waters and communications were cut off, Daphne was unable to contact her family for days. She drew comfort during this period from her Rutgers family, which was both emotionally supportive and also raised funds for her family.
Her family has relocated to an Atlanta, Ga., suburb. Ironically, Daphne had already decided, when she first moved north, that she would remain in New York after college. But now, she explains, her traumatized family will never return to New Orleans either.
But the family is still close, despite the geographical separation, and her parents, along with several other relatives, will attend her May 17 graduation. All are thrilled that Daphne already plans to go to graduate school, with the ultimate goal of working as a fashion editor or overseeing a fashion magazine.
EXPERIENCING LIFE, LEARNING FIRST-HAND
Ron Mosseri, University College, BA, economics; residence: New York, NY
Hes not even 27 years old but Ron Mosseri has already packed a lot of experiences under his belt. He left his family and his native Israel six years ago to work and study in Europe. He completed much of his bachelors coursework in Italy and France before transferring to Rutgers in Newark 18 months ago, and spent a summer backpacking across India between his last two R-N semesters a very fun, very educational experience, he says.
Then, last fall he sought out an independent study, and instead learned about the Economic Departments Federal Reserve Challenge Team. Intrigued by the opportunity to do in-depth research on the economy and interest rates, and then apply what he learned in a real-world simulation, he jumped at the chance, and found himself in New York and, ultimately, in Washington, D.C., competing against fellow students from colleges such as Northwestern University, Boston College and Virginia Commonwealth. The competitions were held in Federal Reserve offices, and were judged by a panel consisting of Wall Street economists, respected academics, and Fed officials.
He and his teammates won the New York regional competition and came in third in the nation in the finals, a fitting conclusion to months of swimming in research and analysis by team members.
Ron completed his coursework in December and now works as an analyst at a small asset management firm in Manhattan, where his Fed Challenge team training is paying unexpected dividends. I often find myself in meetings with more experienced colleagues who dont know as much as I do about analyzing economic indicators, says Ron, crediting swimming in all that research for giving him this professional edge.
Ron isnt sure if his long-term plans will keep him in the United States, but he is much surer of his plans this spring. He will don cap and gown to march in the May 17 commencement ceremonies and savor the fruits of his hard work both at R-N and abroad. And the day will be even sweeter because his parents are temporarily in the U.S. and will be cheering him on as he receives his diploma.
WILLING HIS WAY TO SUCCESS
Nasser Mansoor, Graduate School-Newark, Ph.D., earth and environmental sciences; residence: Houston, TX
More than decade ago, when a friend told a discouraged Nasser Mansoor that where theres a will theres a way, he was skeptical. The son of Palestinian refugees who were forced to flee to Jordan, Nasser was struggling to complete his college education in Jordan while earning enough money to finance that education. His parents were struggling to support him and his six siblings. Nasser wasnt sure if his will was strong enough to find a way to a successful future.
Fortunately, however, My friends advice proved to be true. I never dreamed I would be where I am today, doing so well. Today Nasser is the proud holder of a Rutgers Ph.D. in environmental sciences, employed since January by ExxonMobil in Houston, Texas. He is financially secure enough to not only support his wife and two daughters but to help ease his familys financial situation back in Jordan. More importantly, he is on a job track that should propel him far within the company.
Nassers life began to change for the better while he was a graduate student in Jordan, and learned of an American research team seeking to hire a student who spoke English and had studied earthquakes and seismic activity in the area, to assist in their project. He worked with them over several months, and through a team member, eventually found himself working as a research assistant and doing graduate work at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.
Nasser had hoped to earn his Ph.D. there but the premature birth of his first child and her ensuing medical problems derailed those plans; instead he completed another masters degree. Some months later, Lee Slater, a second member of the research team he had met in Jordan, and a professor at Rutgers in Newark, reached out to Nasser, who then came east to R-N to work as a research assistant while earning his Ph.D.
New Jersey proved to be eye-opening to Nasser and his wife, who were pleasantly shocked to move into a richly diverse culture where they felt immediately comfortable. But they were unpleasantly shocked at the population density and the astronomical housing prices. We rented a whole house in Kansas City for much less than a tiny apartment here, he notes.
It took four long, tough years to complete his coursework, then write and defend his dissertation, all while working and teaching, and making time for his family. But he had a support system in the form of his R-N colleagues. Nasser is especially grateful to department chair Alec Gates for his persistent encouragement and faith in Nasser and for convincing Nasser to attend a recruiting session with ExxonMobil. I had already accepted another job, back in Kansas City, and didnt see any reason to interview with them, he recalls. I basically went to be polite to Alec. The interviewers were so impressed with Nasser that he quickly became one of four finalists, from the entire East Coast, for the Houston position; not long after, he was offered the job. Within a couple of months Nasser and his family were newly minted Texans and Nasser is now a true believer that there really is a way, if you have the will.
CHANGING THINGS FOR THE BETTER
La Tanya Harry, School of Law-Newark, JD, and Masters in City and Regional Planning, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy; residence: Newark, NJ
When La Tanya visited Seoul as part of an exchange program (sponsored by Congressman Ben Gilman and the U.S. Department of State) during her undergraduate years at Dartmouth, she traveled to the Demilitarized Zone, where a line physically separates North Korea from South Korea. She was struck by how much she was reminded of her hometown of East Harlem. Theres no dividing line, but when you go beyond the borders of East Harlem, its like entering a separate world, from one thats a constant struggle to one thats not. You can visit the better world but you have to return to the other one.
La Tanya first made that realization as a child, when she learned she had to leave her neighborhood to go to better stores, and that the schools in other areas were better than hers. When she asked her mom how to change this, Andrea Lindo explained that the political leaders were the ones who ran communities and were the ones who could change them.
Ever since then, La Tanya has wanted to be one of the people who changes things. Thats what drove her to intern in New York Congressman Charles Rangels office as an undergraduate political science and black studies major, and to participate in the Korean program. Its what motivated her to work for New York Senator Charles Schumer and serve as his Housing Policy Advisor for two years prior to commencing both a law degree and a Masters in City and Regional Planning.
During this four-year program La Tanya also interned with the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services as an Eagleton Fellow and with the New York Bar Association Civil Rights Committee as a Thurgood Marshall Fellow. She also helped inmates register to vote through the Rutgers Constitutional Litigation Clinic. La Tanya has continued aiding people through her work at Essex-Newark Legal Services where she helps her clients escape eviction via her efforts in the landlord-tenant division.
Every one of those projects provided real hands-on experience to advance her to her ultimate goal: to help citizens change their worlds for the better, by arming them with the knowledge they need to work within the legal and government systems to effect those changes. People need to know whats going on in their communities, and to realize that life is bigger than your own community, and that the world outside impacts them.
La Tanya will clerk for New Jersey State Supreme Court Justice John Wallace after graduating, but her ultimate goal is to establish a foundation to both provide legal services to the poor and educate them to be pro-active participants in their neighborhoods, through seminars on zoning, government procedures, redevelopment processes and the like.
La Tanya notes that her mom put her dreams of a college degree on hold in order to educate La Tanya, but she was and remains La Tanyas role model and inspiration. Thanks to her mom, she notes, she is the third person in her family to graduate from college, and her mom will be there to watch La Tanya graduate.
SHARED LIVES, SHARED PASSIONS
Bahareh Hassanzadeh, Graduate School-Newark, Ph.D., neuroscience, Newark, NJ
Vahid Tohidi, Graduate School-Newark, Ph.D., biological sciences, Newark NJ; both reside in Newark, NJ
Love brought Bahareh and Vahid together love of science, that is. Bahareh met her husband Vahid nine years ago while both were medical school interns in their native country of Iran. They worked together as researchers on a project, and each was impressed by the others love of both science and research. They discovered that each had been passionate about science since childhood, and as they worked together to help patients who had neurodegenerative diseases or spinal injuries, each discovered they wanted to devote their lives to this area of research. Other common, more personal interests were revealed over time, such as exploring caves and mountain-climbing, and a sense of adventure: together they climbed the highest mountain in Iran.
When Vahid decided to pursue a doctorate overseas, Bahareh who also planned to pursue a Ph.D. decided she didnt want to be separated from him. She had realized that We complete each other, as people and as scientists, a discovery that resulted in their marriage and move to the U.S. to jointly pursue their doctorates, his in biological sciences, hers in neuroscience.
Leaving behind extensive families and coming to a totally different culture was trying, both admit. As they focused on their academic and career goals, they developed friendships and forged local support networks. They learned to bridge the cultural gaps -- both now ski, and they have explored the Garden State as they bicycle and enjoy the outdoors.
Bahareh loves working with the strong independent female scientists she has met here, as she did in Iran. In fact, that is something she loves about science, a field populated by such women, a field where she has been nurtured and encouraged to grow professionally.
Vahid also has flourished professionally, enjoying being able to do science for sciences sake as well as research that will benefit individuals and society. Although he is more reserved and quiet than his wife, he also has enjoyed doing some teaching and working with younger students.
Doing research at Rutgers-Newark provided them both the opportunity for developing extra research abilities in neuroscience and prepared them for future challenges, they both believe.
After graduating, they hope to work together at a research center that specializes in neurodegenerative diseases. We would be doing what we love, and helping people and society as well. Perhaps if we are lucky, we will succeed in a discovery, they explain.
FROM THE OPERATING ROOM TO THE COURTROOM
Ronald A. White, School of Law-Newark, JD; residence: Englewood Cliffs, NJ
His two decades as a surgeon prepared Ron for his four years as a law student. You have to be extremely focused, extremely organized and detail-oriented as a surgeon, he explains, traits that come in useful when you continue to work full-time as a colorectal surgeon while attending law school at night.
Why would a highly successful surgeon, with two offices, decide to make such a drastic career switch? And no, Ron doesnt plan to defend himself against any possible malpractice suits. If I can find an ideal job, then I would close my practice. Its a case, says Ron, of following his childhood dreams and finding his bliss through a new life in the law. I always was interested in the law, he explains, but he also liked medicine, and while in high school, grabbed an offer to participate in a six-year program at Boston University that guaranteed him admission to medical school after graduation.
But Ron was only 16 years old when he made this decision, a bit too young, he says now, to have made such a momentous decision about his lifes permanent direction.
Not that Ron has regrets; he loves his job and has been very successful. But four years ago, at the age of 45, he decided it was time to do what I really want, now that I know what I really want. When he was much younger, he hadnt felt comfortable about going to law school at night, feeling the combination of his practice and coursework would take too much of his time away from his wife and two small children.
So Ron waited until his children were older, even though They thought I was crazy, he admits, especially his son. They couldnt believe I wanted to undertake all that work papers, exams, studying. Even some of his friends and colleagues questioned his decision. Nevertheless, his children and wife were extremely supportive, although there was one caveat to his wifes support. She told me I couldnt go away to law school and live on campus in a dorm, he says with a laugh.
Ron found that law school, like medical school, was hard work, but different from medical school. Ron himself was different, mature enough to see that the process -- the experience of going to law school -- was as important as the end product, his law degree.
This time in his life, Ron believes, is probably the best time to make such a drastic change. I can wait and select the job I want, rather than take the first offer that comes along. Whats more, he notes, he is still young enough to have a meaningful law career.
Interestingly, his daughter is about to start law school herself. She, along with Rons wife, son, mother and his wifes parents, all plan to cheer him on when he walks to the stage for his diploma.
THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG-DISTANCE STUDENT
David Sager, Graduate School-Newark, MA, jazz history and research; residence: Laurel, MD
David lives more than one life; by day he is a technician in the Library of Congress, working in its recorded sound section; by night David is an accomplished jazz trombonist making the circuit in Washingtons jazz clubs and sometimes going on tour. Since 1998 he also has been Rutgers student David Sager, completing a long-distance graduate degree, and for the last couple of years, he has been the accompanist to his toddler grandsons spirited kazoo performances (on a trombone-shaped kazoo, of course, provided by grandpa.)
All in all, life has been hectic but good, says David. Because of time constraints, he took only one course per semester to earn his jazz masters, initially taking the courses through Rutgers distance-learning program. When that distance program was discontinued, he worked with Rutgers-Newark music professor Lewis Porter, head of the jazz MA program, who, says David, created imaginative ways for him to continue his studies. These included regular chat room sessions with Porter and guest speakers, extended emails, phone calls, and occasional live get-togethers when one or the other was in Newark or Washington on business.
Because the masters is in research, David only had to give one performance as part of his class work, and he first played it over the phone, then mailed Porter a recording of the performance.
David learned about the jazz MA from a colleague at the Library of Congress who also has second and third jobs in the jazz world. In addition to performing jazz, David has always been interested in the music's history and dreamt of writing jazz reviews, liner notes, critiques of performances and jazz histories, and realized the MA program would give him a boost in that direction. So he signed up and hung in for nine long years, "thanks to Lewis Porter's creativity," he says.
David has recently released a historic jazz re-issue on CDl of all the 1923 recordings of King Oliver's Jazz Band, for which he did extensive research and wrote the accompanying booklet. The set has been getting rave reviews. An upcoming project is a biography of trombonist, composer and band leader Arthur Pryor. But David says he has no plans to give up his day job after getting his degree; its too hard to make a living as a musician or a writer.
Although David performs on trombone with his grandchild on kazoo, he takes a more passive role, as an appreciative viewer, when it comes to his wifes second job: she teaches and performs flamenco part-time.
When it comes to his May 18 commencement, David is making arrangements to attend. Its one aspect of his MA he prefers to experience in person, rather than long distance.
A FAMILY AFFAIR IN HEALTH CARE
Sigrid Marfo, College of Nursing, BS, nursing; residence: Teaneck, NJ
Sigrid is only 22 years old, but already has years of experience dealing with medical emergencies, death and grief. As a teenaged babysitter, her quick action saved a several-months-old child who was having a seizure. Her community service project at Teaneck High School brought her to Holy Name Hospital, and led to her working, for nearly four years, as a patient care tech in the emergency room of Holy Name Hospital. Last summer Sigrid interned in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at New Yorks Mt. Sinai Medical Center, and her internship exposed her to terminally ill patients.
Ive learned how to deal with death, says Sigrid, and she also has had to learn to comfort loved ones of the dead and dying.
But nursing isnt about death, as far as Sigrid is concerned; it is about saving lives and the emotional high that comes with it. That started with the baby having the seizure; she was impressed by watching the EMT crew in action, and by the realization her calm response had helped save the baby. That was the trigger, the motivation to want to save lives and help people, Sigrid recalls. That decision was reinforced a couple years later when, acting as an interpreter for her grandmother who was undergoing surgery, Sigrid saw an anesthesia nurse save the grandmothers life when her condition suddenly destabilized.
As if those experiences werent enough to steer Sigrid into health care, theres the little matter of her family. Her parents are radiologic technologists, taking CAT scans and X-rays -- her mother also does mammographies -- a sister is a home health aide, and a brother is studying X-ray technology. Both parents had worked in the health field in their native Ghana, where Sigrid also was born. They immigrated to the U.S. when Sigrid was 6, and worked at any jobs they could get to support their family while going to school to work as radiologic technologists.
Sigrid describes her parents and grandmother as strong believers in the value of education, a value they instilled in her and her siblings. They are excited that Sigrid plans to go for her masters, with the ultimate goal of becoming an nurse anesthetist, like the woman who saved Sigrids grandmother, specializing in orthopedic and cranial surgery.
A prerequisite for applying for her masters in that specialty is to work as an RN for at least two years, she explains, and she expects to be doing so this coming summer, at one of the three New York City hospitals where she has applied.
Sigrid will be inducted into Sigma Theta Tau, the honor society for nursing, in late April. Almost her entire family and extended family hopes to attend, and to return to the campus on the morning of May 17 for her commencement ceremony.
FROM A KOREAN ORPHANAGE TO A RUTGERS MA BY WAY OF BROOKLYN
Kimberly A. Macellaro, Graduate School-Newark, MA, English; with a womens studies concentration; residence: Old Bridge, NJ
Kimberlys journey through life began in Korea, shifted to an Italian-American neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, then to Old Bridge, NJ, and will shift again, to Texas, for work on a doctorate. In between she learned to speak English -- with an Italian accent -- earned an undergraduate degree from Rutgers in New Brunswick, and will receive her masters from Rutgers in Newark on May 18.
My parents consider my graduation the crowning achievement of their parenting, Kimberly says with a laugh. Kimberly is the first member of her family to earn a college diploma, and her parents are delighted she plans to continue her education at Rice University, which has accepted her for the doctoral program in English and womens studies.
However, she notes, both parents are upset that she will be moving to Texas and wish Rice was closer to home, like in New Jersey. Throughout her undergraduate and graduate years at Rutgers, she lived close enough to commute to their home each weekend; such regular visits wont be the case once she moves to Texas.
Her adoptive parents have always been amazingly supportive and close to her, notes Kimberly, who says the only downside to growing up in her family was that she spoke English with an Italian accent until I was in high school. She considers herself proof that adoption is a matter of nurture, not nature, explaining that I thought I was Italian and told people that, even though I knew I had been adopted and looked different from my sister.
Her parents always let me find my own path, she explains, and when she decided to major in English, didnt try to pressure me into a course of study they might have considered more practical.
Kimberly hopes to eventually teach at the university level and to be a feminist critic of literature and theory who, she hopes, can inspire and help her students as she says she was helped at Rutgers-Newark. Professors like Laura Lomas, Janet Larson and Barbara Foley werent just teachers; they were supportive, encouraging mentors who helped me lot, as well as great thinkers. She also credits Larson with making it financially possible for her to complete her masters by helping Kimberly be awarded two separate scholarships that financed most of her degree.
Kimberly is already helping students; she teaches part-time at Essex County College, and also was a tutor at the Rutgers Writing Center at R-N. I try to be very hands on and very helpful, as my professors have been, she explains.
A FREQUENT FLIER EARNS HER BA
Diane Aronowitz, University College, BA, psychology; residence: Deltona, FL
For the last couple of semesters, Diane arrived at her Monday classes with suitcase in hand. She wasnt planning to bolt after class; quite the opposite. She had just commuted in from her home in Florida, which she left every Monday on a red-eye flight into Newark Liberty International Airport, leaving behind her husband and young son in her quest to complete her degree.
Although Dianes college days had started at Seminole Community College in Florida back in the 1990s, the Brooklyn native, who had moved South with her family, had always wanted to attend Rutgers-Newark. Rutgers is Rutgers it has the name, the reputation and the Newark campus is so near New York and my old friends, she explains.
So in 1996, Diane transferred to Rutgers-Newark, living and working on campus, attending classes, serving on the Committee to Advance our Common Purposes. But in 2000, she dropped out, only several credits away from graduation, discouraged by feelings of separation from her family and concerns about her ill mother. I just wasnt mature enough to deal with everything, she reflects.
Over the next few years Diane worked at several jobs, married husband Michael, became a mother, and moved to Florida. But she always felt incomplete without her degree, and couldnt conceive of going to college in Florida. Im a Rutgers-Newark student and thats where I wanted my diploma from.
Her husband saw her frustration and realized that I was hurting because of her unfinished education, so in July 2006, the family traveled to New Jersey so Diane could register at R-N for the 23 credits she needed to get her BA. Then in September 2006, with her familys blessing, she began the weekly flights from Florida to Newark each Monday, taking classes through Thursday, and then hopping another plane back to Florida each Friday. Diane stayed with friends in Brooklyn and other nearby towns, studying and doing coursework as she traveled by bus or train to and from the campus. Dianes mom helped out by baby-sitting Dianes now 4-year-old son.
The schedule was grueling, the absences from her family were emotionally hard on all of them, and the flights were expensive. But Dianes motivation was simple and clear: The cost of NOT getting my degree would have been infinitely greater than the price of airline tickets, she states. She adds, What kind of example would I have set for my son if I didnt get my degree? I want him to see that you have to make sacrifices to accomplish something.
Dianes passion foe education and for Rutgers-Newark apparently rubbed off on her brother-in-law, Daniel; he too is graduating from R-N on May 17, and because they share the same last name, he will be sitting alongside Diane at the commencement ceremony.
Diane already plans to get her masters, at Stetson University in Florida, after taking some time off, and would like to work as a therapist to college students. Her dream: to return to New Jersey and work at Rutgers-Newark. I love Rutgers and this campus, especially the way the campus has become more welcoming and green. And I love the renaissance I see in Newark. I would love to be a part of it all by working here.
FROM AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE IN ECUADOR TO A FUTURE PHYSICIAN IN THE US
Vanessa Flores, Newark College of Arts and Sciences, BA, biological sciences with a minor in business administration; residence: Elizabeth, NJ
Vanessas planned career in medicine took several detours these last several years. Political and economic upheaval in her native Ecuador required a temporary shift from accepted medical student to a school coach working to save enough money to pay her tuition. As the crises in her homeland worsened, Vanessa took a much longer detour, to the United States, on her own, at the age of 19. I arrived here with $400 in my pocket, enough to pay two months rent at the place I would be staying, she recalls.
Her parents, a lawyer and a business administrator, were initially wary of letting her go, but eventually agreed that it made sense for her to work long enough to earn money for her education. Once here, there were other detours from Vanessas original career path: working two jobs, in a drug store and a restaurant some 16 hour a day, seven days a week then a move up to a larger restaurant, first as a hostess and eventually overseeing its catering. Her enthusiasm for restaurant management prompted her to attend Union County College, studying business.
But, Vanessa says, she knew something was missing from her life: medicine and science. After completing her associate degree in business, she began at Rutgers in Newark, and eventually majored in biological science with a business minor. Vanessa really got back on track to her medical career when she undertook a 15-week internship, through the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD. That was my life-changing experience, she explains.
Acting as an interpreter for Spanish-speaking patients, Vanessa had to interact with doctors and medical researchers as well as the patients involved in clinical trials. I saw the relationship between medical research and real-world everyday medicine, she explains. I was able to witness the best of both worlds: Medicine that translated into basic science questions and basic science answers that could possibly develop new therapies, says Vanessa, noting, I knew this was what I wanted to do.
Through a colleague at NIH, she learned about the highly competitive NIH Undergraduate Scholarship Program, which offers scholarship support, paid summer research programs with NIH and paid employment and training at the NIH after graduation. She applied and was one of 13 recipients, from the 300 who applied. The scholarship was renewed three years in a row, financing her education while exposing her to intensive, hands-on research each summer, first with the National Institute of Mental Healths Laboratory of Neuropsychology, and then with the Vascular Medicine Branch at the National Heart Blood and Lung Institute, a research program she will repeat this summer.
She also worked in research labs on the Rutgers-Newark campus through the Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) program, working with some of R-Ns top science researchers, and was accepted into the Honors College and the Golden Key International Honor Society during her years at R-N, while making the Deans List every semester since 2003. She also achieved the highest grade point average among MBRS student, earning the programs Excellence in Achievement Award.
Come fall 2007, Vanessa begins the final leg of her journey to being a physician: The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. As a physician, she wants to work with researchers and patients. There has to be a synergistic relationship between research and real-world medical care, or whats the value of the research? she muses.
Vanessa might have begun her U.S. journey on her own, but she will have plenty of support on May 17 when she receives her diploma. Her mom and sister, who now live in the U.S., will be there, as will her dad, who has arranged to fly in from Ecuador.