Dreams Change by Katherine

Dreams Change by Katherine - April 2025 Scholarship Essay

As a child grows up, they are asked to think about what they want to be. A teacher, an
astronaut, a vet, a construction worker, a doctor, or even president.
From when I was young I wanted to be so many things: a teacher, a doctor, or even a vet. But
as time moved on it was time to think seriously about what I wanted to be. I wanted to be a
teacher until I realized I’m scared of talking in front of people; I wanted to be a vet until I realized
I couldn’t handle seeing animals hurting or suffering; I wanted to be a doctor until I realized that I
can’t handle the sight of major wounds bleeding. I found out that there are many different types
of people in the medical field that don't have to deal with blood. I wanted to be a doctor that
could help people without having to deal with blood. But I remembered that there are many
medical careers that don’t involve blood.
When I entered middle school, it started to become more serious about career choices. I first
wanted to be a doctor that took care of newborn infants because I loved the idea of taking care of
those children, and then started leaning towards the section of the medical field that deals with
things that can’t be seen with the naked eyes. I started with wanting to be a psychologist
because I wanted to help take care of people by just talking to them so they feel heard, which
stuck with me for many years. The main thing that made me switch my focus to becoming a
psychologist was my loud, musical, Disney loving little brother.
Being a psychologist felt like it was going to be my forever career but as I went through high
school, I was exposed to different careers. The final time that I changed what I wanted to be was
in sophomore year of high school. I was in my pathway class and we started doing a genetics
unit. We had to discover why people inherited certain characteristics while others weren’t
inherited. That got me really interested in figuring out why. My little brother has autism and is
the focus of my entire family. He has always been a key part of my life and as I grew up, I wanted
to understand him more. Because autism is an inherited trait, I wanted to figure out what
chromosome it’s from and why it becomes dominant sometimes. The main thing I want to
understand is why Autistic people are all different in certain ways, and being a geneticist will
help me understand why autism can be different in certain individuals.
As time passed, many different ideas of careers that I wanted to have: a teacher, a pediatric
nurse, a psychologist, and finally a geneticist. Never would I have thought that I was going to
want to be a geneticist but being a one would be my dream come true to be able to help people
and because it has interested me for a long time.