Application

And I rose excited to get ready on my first

Friday morning volunteering again. My light navy blue polo had

already been ironed the night before and placed neatly outside so

I could quickly put on my Shands volunteering uniform. While

racing towards the hospital, I began to wonder what to expect and

what my first experience would be like volunteering at the

Pediatric Unit that semester. Many older students who had

volunteered at Shands previously recommended volunteering in the

Pediatric Unit for at least one semester. So I began to

think, what could I gain from volunteering there rather than any

other floor? Soon enough I would get my answer as I got to the

4th Floor to report to the Nurse's Station. One of the nurses had

suggested I simply walk around the floor and ask the patients if

they wanted to participate in any activities. To me initially it

struck me as odd and slightly uncomfortable to simply walk into

the rooms of these patients I had never met before, especially

with many of them being half my age. However soon enough I

remembered what I volunteered my time to do and found myself in

the room of an 8 year old cancer patient named Brandon. His

mother seemed exhausted and so I asked Brandon if he wanted to

play any games or watch a movie. Brandon decided to play go-fish

with me but he began getting frustrated as he couldn't seem to

pick out any of my cards initially. Yet soon enough eager Brandon

started calling out "I think I know what you have this time. Got

any Kings?" I gladly gave him all my kings and he gleamed at me

with a radiant smile. On my way leaving after my three hour shift

ended that Friday morning I waved goodbye to Brandon. Although I

was glad to play cards with him and felt I made his day by

something as simple as playing a game with him I prayed that day I

wouldn't see Brandon again in that hospital bed. Volunteering in

the Pediatric Unit, I never forgot the faces of those innocent

children suffering from conditions that could seriously compromise

their quality of life and the love I grew for these incredibly

brave people. Throughout the semester I became even more inspired

and dedicated to study medicine. It was apparent that my

convictions to use my scholastic talents and patient care

relations I learned from volunteering to better a patient's

overall quality of life became stronger.

Actually, growing up I always planned to become a doctor and

my interest in medicine sparked from an enjoyment of science.

Throughout grade school and recently in high school and college I

began taking a wide array of science courses to satisfy my

intellectual appetite. From general biology and the dreaded

multi-step synthesis problems from organic chemistry to the

advanced study of biochemical pathways and reactions in the body,

each subject brought new challenges and discoveries.

Upper-division courses, such as Biochemistry and Molecular

Genetics, focus great attention upon the fine specifics of the

disciplines and processes being taught. Reassuringly I still find

myself very much stimulated by my inquisitive and curious nature