When I was twelve years old I decided exactly how I would spend the rest of my life. First, I would finish up middle school and high school, then I would go to a CUNY college, get a degree in nursing, and continue on my way to becoming a hospice nurse. In my spare time, I would write novels and popular science books. I began to prepare myself for my future life by studying science, writing stories, and starting a blog about science. When I was in high school I decided it would be a good idea to get experience doing scientific research to help me understand science better when I studied nursing. I applied for the Science Research Mentoring Program (SRMP) at the American Museum of Natural History and ended up doing research on the diet of coyotes in New York City as part of that program. I loved doing research, and being part of the diet study was one of the best experiences in my life. Both of my mentors from SRMP repeatedly asked me if considered pursing a career in scientific research, but I said no, I wanted to be a nurse and a writer. My career plan I made when I was twelve was still stuck in my head.
It wasn’t until I started applying for colleges that I realized nursing is an extremely popular major, and hundreds of students applied to colleges saying they wanted to go into nursing. To make myself stand out to college admissions, I focused on my interests in scientific research, coyotes, urban ecology, and science communication. Once I got into college, I thought I would go back to being a nursing major and a writer like I planned all along.
When I started describing myself as a future scientist I realized that I wasn’t interested in nursing anymore. I wanted to pursue a career in scientific research. All these ideas for research projects started popping into my head. I wanted to know, are lichens indicators of urban ecosystem health? What is the lichen diversity of New York City? Do lichens communicate with the trees they grow on?
The plan I made at age twelve was outdated, but that doesn’t mean it was a bad plan, or that it wasn’t “real” at some point. If I wasn’t interested in nursing I never would have done SRMP, and I may have never known I wanted to be a research scientist.
I resonated with the Youth in Passing Strange because he too went through several stages of thinking he knew what The Real, only to realize he hadn’t quite hit on it yet. The Youth used art to guide him to The Real, I use experience. My experiences in research guided me to my current interests. Right now, I want to study lichens and urban ecology for the rest of my life, but later maybe I’ll decide that I do want to become a novelist. Whenever my dad makes a decision he always says “I made this decision now, but I always reserve the right to change my mind.” I think this is a good saying to live by. Life is easier if you remain open to new possibilities. Who knows where future experiences will guide me.
