I've always been someone who says that I want to work with animals. When I bought my first plastic stethoscope and listened to my stuffed animals' heartbeats, even though obviously I heard nothing, I knew that this was something I always wanted to do. Listening is an important part of being in the animal sciences field. Regardless of whether you hear anything or not, you have to learn that, sadly, this comes with bad days, and you need to remember who you're doing it for. I began my career path with my Associate's degree at Triton College. I was very excited but then, sadly, COVID hit and eventually burned me to a crisp. I was very burnt out from online school, masks and little human interaction. I continued to push through and received my degree and then transferred to the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and received my Bachelor's degree. From receiving those two degrees, I felt that I had reached my limit and was settled into my life, and didn't continue to go into veterinary school. I realized from classes that I was too afraid of the field and surgery, and possibly not hearing that heartbeat that I was talking about earlier. I was afraid of more failure and more unforeseen setbacks like COVID. I began working at a company called IDEXX that’s a great company that helps animals get diagnosed for parasites in their fecal matter, problems in their blood, urine, cytology, etc. I work specifically with parasitology. What brings me specifically to now pursuing the veterinary field for school again is that I realized the only one who is holding me back from future studies and possibilities is me. I don't want to be scared anymore, and I want to continue my studies, but this time in pharmacy. I want more out of my future and want to continue making my parents proud as well. As well as being the second to graduate college in my family, I am a first-generation living in the United States so it hasn't been an easy journey to be motivated when there are also other factors that you have to thing about besides school in your home life. I've always had a passion for helping animals as well as working with them directly or indirectly, so I strive to get back onto the path to get my Doctorate in Pharmacy to be able to have a future career in the veterinary field.