Who we are today and what we want tomorrow is shaped by what happened yesterday.

I was six when I knew I wanted to pursue a career in health care. I had seen the daily grind that my mom put into her job, and I aspired to be the same. Many years later, when I was around thirteen, I fell into an injury-prone phase where for four years, every year, I had some sort of injury that required treatment. My previous desire of becoming an emergency physician or hematologist took a back seat to my new dream of becoming a physical therapist. I was inspired by the effectiveness of physical therapy as well as the personal aspect of getting to know your patients. And that brings us to today. I am currently a sports health student with hopes of graduating with a Bachelor of Science in sports health and a Master of Science in athletic training. My ultimate goal, however, is to be dual certified as a PT and an AT after going to grad school. 

Next up is where I want to live after graduation. A close family friend moved to Colorado when I was around eight. We visited quite a few times when I was younger and went more recently when I was fifteen. It was when I was fifteen and really thinking about my future that I became dead set on moving to Colorado after college. We got in the rental car and drove from the Vail airport to our condo in town. I was looking out the window at the mountains speeding by and got the chills. Their immensity was different than the mountains you see in Vermont. These are more in your face but in the best way. That exact moment is when, in the most cliche way possible, I knew I would be moving there in the future.

While I don’t know if I’ll be married in five years, I hope that my current boyfriend of four and a half years is by my side. We met the first day of freshman year in high school and have basically been set on a future ever since. As a freshman, the thought of having kids nearly killed me, but I have certainly warmed up to the idea since. We’ve agreed that a trip to Thailand is almost necessary, and getting a dog is also a must. 

Without the experiences that I’ve accumulated over the past eighteen years of my life, my dreams for the future would, without a doubt, be completely different. I could speculate what path I would be going down if that was the case, but I’m rather happy with what I have right now and even more so about what is to come.