Bones by Victoria

Bones by Victoria - September 2017 Scholarship Essay

Although every elective has been a great journey, the only elective that has changed my perspective of the world is Anatomy and Physiology and in doing so, this elective has greatly impacted my education. Our teacher, for the course, was incredible and contributed to my learning in anatomy. The class itself was life-changing and genuinely made me more determined to be a scientist today. Due to this elective, it was completely responsible for changing my major. My major is now biology.
Anatomy is the study of living organisms and, specifically, studying their bodily structure. It was an extremely difficult class. We took tests every day, and had to remember every bone in our body (adult bodies have 206 bones). I learned a countless amount of fun facts, that might not seem important to average students. It seem like I studied thousands of books to learn the bones and what they did. At the beginning of the year, I despised the class. I thought it was meaningless; I did not want to learn about our bones, it was not what I wanted to do. By the end of the year, I acknowledged how significant this class was and what it taught me.
Anatomy taught me to appreciate what humans are. It taught me that we are all so similar, yet we are so different. It taught me how strong we are; how someone can break every bone in their body and yet, still be able to walk and run exactly as they did beforehand. It showed me how men and women are different, and if someone was killed, their bones can tell us who they were and what happened. It took me a while to learn, but I understand that without our bones we wouldn’t be able to move. It is what protects our organs and constructs our blood cells. But what truly impacted my education was a simple field trip.
We took a field trip to the morgue, and I was called to help examine the body. I was allowed to look up, close and personal, to what many would think is purely revolting. The mortician then asked if everyone wanted to see what he is able to see every day, and asked me to step back. He pulled out a saw and started to cut into the body’s head. Many people, logically, left the viewing room but I stayed. He asked after he finished and noticed many have left, if I would like to hold the brain. In that minute, my world changed. If it wasn’t for that day, I would never be so determined to become what I dream to be. That was the day, anatomy single-handily changed my educational goal. That was the day I realized, I wanted to be a biologist. I was allowed to hold a human brain. It was so much heavier than expected and looked just like jello. But this brain I was holding, it held this body’s hopes and dreams – it’s thoughts, fears, insecurities, joys, and pleasures. I was holding every memory, every emotion, every pain, every bodily control. I was holding a person; I was holding something that separates us from every other living organisms. Till this day, my friends and family do not understand why I changed my mind to become a biologist. No one understood how much it impacted me, or why it did. I believe it showed me that life is so easily manipulated. At any moment, you can die and will have someone holding onto your brain as if you were merely nothing but a brain.
I want people to view what I viewed when I held a brain. I want people to see how life-changing it can be when they finally see the world for the beauty it has. That is exactly what biology is: the study of life. I want everyone to feel what I felt at that exact moment. I needed to take a step back and come to terms with what I was holding. I was holding someone’s entire life in my hands.