2023 Anthony and Marcia Baker Scholarship Awardee

How I plan To Impact The Next Generation
With pursuing my degree in Animal Sciences, I aim to eventually earn my Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine (DVM). Through my pursuits, I plan to impact the emotional well-being of
the next generation by supporting pet ownership. For many people, animals are family members,
which can heavily influence their emotional state if an event would occur. When considering this
factor, Veterinarians have just as impactful a job as human doctors have. As well, just the mere
component of having the ability to save a life is an extremely powerful ability. Being able to impact a being in such a drastic measure such as life or death to me is both amazing and frighting.
Growing up in South Florida, I was surrounded by people of many backgrounds, both culturally and financially. With this being said, with my degree in the field of Veterinary Medicine, I would like to establish my own practice that is able to accommodate for people of all financial backgrounds. Just as it is costly for humans to receive medical help, it can be just as costly for animals. Therefore, with my degree, if I am able to establish my own practice and provide care to an extended member of the family of many humans, for a financially
accommodating cost, I feel as if I would be able to impact many communities.
Another impact I strive to make is to encourage more underrepresented groups to pursue careers in STEM. My mother immigrated from Jamaica before I was born, and was able to earn a Biology degree. Because of her experiences, I was lucky that at a young age I was able to be connected to scientific thinkers that developed my love for animals. However, I noticed that I
never saw people that looked like me in many animal-related fields, which discouraged me at a young age. As I grew older, I gained the passion to be the person that will encourage other young girls that look like me to love animals and not be discouraged to pursue any field that they would like to, no matter what circumstance.