I wish people would care about the world more. When I say that I mean the environment, especially food waste. I was thinking about launching a compost program here at school in the spring. I’m not really too sure about how that’s going to work out. But, especially where my family comes from, waste is not a good thing. My family is from Eastern Africa, so it hurts me seeing that. So I thought, what if we have a little compost station outside of our school? That’s what I’m trying to start for my leadership class.
Have you thought about what you want to do when you are older?
I’ve kind of been all over the place since I was younger. When I was in eighth grade, I wanted to be a pediatrician. So, I signed up for the Health Sciences Academy and thought: OK, I’m going to be a pediatrician. The more I get into it, I don’t know if I want to be a pediatrician anymore. I still love kids, but I don’t know if I want to see all the kids get sick and be in the hospital all the time. Then, in the middle of high school, I was kind of veering off the medical thing but I’ve already learned a lot about this and it’s kind of a part of me now. So now I’m looking into learning about public health. I’m kind of interested in becoming an epidemiologist. I’ve been visiting schools and learning about their different public health programs. I’m actually pretty interested in helping prevent diseases around the world and studying global health.
I really do have a heart for other people. I know that no matter what I do, I want to do something that will help other people. A woman I talked with told me that when you’re first working in public health you’re not going to make a lot of money. I wasn’t too concerned about that because I know I would be making a difference.
I mentioned where my family is from in Ethiopia and when I visited there and see what the health standards are there compared to here. It just really touched my heart. They don’t even have wheelchairs. I wished I could do something myself and not just sit there and be one of those people in the back just watching. I actually want to do something and make a difference.
#WeAreVBSchools
