Vocals to Medicine by Frannetia

Vocals to Medicine by Frannetia - June 2017 Scholarship Essay

At the age of six I always pictured myself on a stage singing to an arena full of people. My band and I rocking to music we created, like the very heroes and heroines we would watch in awe. I felt more than capable and figured it would be achievable at the time. Television dictates much of what we think as kids, the music shows and completions made platinum and accolades seem all too easy. Of course nobody besmirches the dreams of children and as I grew older, my grasp on life and perspective widened. In turn my career choice changed because of this.
As I got older seemingly everyone around me said “a lot of people can sing but not a lot will actually make it”. It seems foolish to think now that I could emulate prerecorded music, it was pretty much what I heard and saw. Little did I know how much a role auto tune and lip syncing played. Confident in my talent, I made the choice to prove them wrong so I enrolled I my school’s chorus and sang professionally up until 2015. Convinced that with my training I would have a clear advantage over others, and I had a secret weapon which was sight reading-which not many people can do.
Like the dreams of so many children, mine too was shattered by bitter truth that is reality. After joining a local professional choir, I found that singing wasn’t for me, my passion for music abandoned me and eventually I it. Left only with the regret of having not listened, my life was a blank canvas once again.
From the beginning of middle school students are bombarded with the thought of college, careers, and annual income. One begins to see the effects of the right or wrong profession has on one’s emotional and mental wellbeing. Mental illnesses, psychological barriers, social and cultural norms all become apparent. The world unveils itself and though some color fades, clarity yields and shows the ugliness of the wrong choices. If one didn’t want to become a doctor or a lawyer, it was most likely ridiculed. This made me second guess my career choices and I came to the reasoning of whether I should join the military. Success seemed guaranteed as did the job. It clothed and paid for all of your expenses and nobody could question patriotism. But as I mulled over my choice over the years, I met criticism once again. “Do you just want to die? What are you going to do when you become injured or old?” Also, veterans nowadays are typically disrespected and undervalued. They had a point and I don’t think I could bring myself to kill anyone so I was left once again without a passion.
After some months of wandering around without any thought of what I wanted to be when I grew up my life made a complete stop. My mother was diagnosed with epilepsy. I didn’t know much about it at the time, I thought she went mad or something made her really sick. I felt entirely useless seeing my mother convulse on the floor and left unconscious. Ambulance calls were made almost five times a month, car accident after car accident. Devastation hit me like a train. When I look back I knew so little about epilepsy and was too afraid to know what it was. Now I know what to do to save my mom’s life. My mother being diagnosed inspired me to become a paramedic.
A few years later I made the decision to become useful, to help my mom and people that need medical attention. I wanted to become a paramedic, I was always inspired by their fearlessness. I took the step towards that career by getting certified in CPR/AED, now I was useful and powerful. I now had the ability to prevent a death and change a life for the better.

Although I am well aware that being a paramedic is not an easy journey and that it doesn’t make the biggest buck I still want to pursue my passion and help save a life.