Finding My People
A Journey of Finding my Home at DePaul
In the fall of 2014, I came to DePaul with two big suitcases filled with clothes, my mom, and not much else. I’d chosen the school after just a few clicks on its website, a few previous trips to Chicago in the back of my mind (trips that did not include a campus tour or even a visit to campus), and the hope that I would find friends in a sea of new students on campus.
As a freshman biology major, I quickly learned that I had a lot more on my plate than many other first year students. While most people were out exploring Chinatown or going to concerts at Lincoln Hall, I spent my time in the study lounge completing lab reports and studying for upcoming tests. I didn’t quite have the free time to get involved in a variety of different clubs and organizations on campus, but I soon learned of the great support system I had in the Pathways Honors program that surrounded me with a big group of students that were also interested in going into the health professions. Pathways Honors was really my first involvement that gave me access to a cohort of friends in and outside the classroom that I could find myself connected to…even in my senior year!
With friends that I met in the program, we began DePaul’s very own Red Cross Club in the spring of our first year, and I gained my first leadership position on campus as the club’s Marketing and Communications Co-Chair. Throughout our sophomore year, we began hosting events that supported the mission of The Red Cross such as CPR training or having students build their own first aid kit. Though somewhat limited, my involvements during my first year at DePaul really helped to set a confidence in myself as a leader in the things I found myself passionate in, and this continued into the next year.
In the summer after my freshman year, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend six weeks at UCLA in a program for pre-med and pre-dent students. This program not only molded me into being a competitive and successful applicant in applying to medical school, it also opened my eyes to the health disparities faced by marginalized communities that experience lack of quality health care or even access to care. My time spent at UCLA was a true transformative moment for me and was an experience similar to St. Louise de Marillac’s Lumière moment. On the day of the Pentecost in 1623, when Louise was feeling lost and depressed, her prayers illuminated a mission of serving the poor and marginalized — one that she would follow for the rest of her life. My summer at UCLA was my Lumière moment; as a rising sophomore who still didn’t know too much, I learned about healthcare disparities and realized that this was an issue that I wanted to tackle throughout my career as a health care professional. Returning to DePaul in the fall with a passion of dissolving health care disparities in the future, I had a newfound purpose in my career.
My involvement grew even more during my next few years at DePaul and I continued to find some of my biggest support systems through them. I began several on-campus jobs where I met some of my best friends. They became the people I went to with all of my problems, and they encouraged me in everything I did. I learned how to balance five classes, two jobs, AND and internship that turned out to be one of my most memorable experiences. As an intern in the Take Back the Halls program, I helped to facilitate conversations surrounding teen dating violence prevention in a CPS high school. While I didn’t initially see this as a health care disparity, it was a disparity nonetheless. These students (and myself) were never given a chance previously to have conversations about relationship violence, so the times in the classroom when we got to engage with students about the topic were constructive for both the CPS students and the interns.
You’d think three years into my college experience I would have found enough communities to be a part of but, yet again, I surprised myself. Summer 2017 was a culminating period for my DePaul Vincentian leadership as I worked as an Orientation Leader for incoming first year students. That summer, I was able to sum up all of the knowledge I had gained about DePaul, its available resources, its Vincentian identity, and so much more to transfer into the minds of fresh, new students. This role brought my Vincentian identity to life as I helped to enlighten students about honoring the human dignity in every person and the many ways in which DePaul students exemplify that — service opportunities throughout Chicago and cultural spaces for underrepresented students are just some of many.
My time spent as an Orientation Leader gave me the opportunity to pass down my earned knowledge, all while being surrounded by the most supportive group of peers and supervisors.
As senior year swiftly winds down, I have to learn to slowly step back from the many DePaul communities I’ve surrounded myself with as I plan to graduate and move on to the next step. But, as I leave DePaul I do not leave behind the Vincentian values I have gained here. Fulfilling my life goal of becoming a physician will only help to guide me into caring for our society by eliminating healthcare disparities and connecting closely with the Catholic Social Teaching of providing an Option for the Poor and Vulnerable. Those that fall into healthcare disparities are often the most vulnerable of our society as they experience lack of quality health insurance, lack of quality healthcare, or even do not have the option to receive primary care in between working multiple jobs and caring for their family. As a community, we have a responsibility of taking care of each other, even those at the lowest ranks of society, and through my work in healthcare I hope to follow closely with this mission and honoring these vulnerable populations.
