“Unprecedented times.” A phrase we’ve become all too familiar with in recent days. It peppered email inboxes and public broadcasts alike. Covid’s arrival to the US found me finishing up my career as a critical care nurse and preparing for Duke.

June 23rd, 2021 was a regular day for some, but for me, it was a day full of bliss and excitement! It was the last day of my didactic year and I could officially say had made it to clinicals!

“You’re just a nurse.” A statement made by a colleague, forever stained in my memory. “You’re just a nurse.” As if to assume my chosen undergraduate degree placed a glass ceiling on my knowledge and expertise in regards to the healthcare of my patient.

Relaxing on my much-awaited spring break after completing two semesters of pre-clinical year, I am still in a state of disbelief that I am part of Duke University’s Physician Assistant (PA) program. If anyone had told me a few years ago that I would become a PA student at Duke University, I would have thought the person was making fun of me. It is a surreal journey that has brought me to this stage of my life. I think sharing my journey would be helpful to at least a few like me who would never dare to dream of this.

What comes to mind when you think of Physician Assistant (PA) school? For many pre-PA students, images of donning a white coat with a stethoscope neatly placed over their shoulders fill their imagination. This narrative quickly changes for students accepted into a PA program with illustrations of a never-ending stream of exams. I don’t want to downplay the rigor of PA school because the hours of studying are all too true, but this does not mean you need to sacrifice other aspects of your life, such as your health.

To be a physician assistant student is to voluntarily commit to expanding your mind daily for 24-36 months and beyond. I will use this space to share a thing or two I wish I knew. I am thinking back to the moment when pursuing healthcare just felt right. A newly minted 911 dispatcher for Virginia's capital, EMS calls had a hold on me in a way that was impossible to ignore. Five years later, I began the most rigorous training I have personally ever received.

Few experiences can so universally provoke feelings of nervousness, excitement, and anxiety as a first day. Whether it be a first day of school, first day at a new job, or first day of a new clinical rotation, many of us have experienced enough first days in our lives to wonder – how many times before this becomes less awkward?

I am sitting here on my 31st birthday, as a first-year student in my second semester at the Duke University Physician Assistant Program, thinking about all the advice I have received over the years. One of the best pieces of advice was during my second tour of duty to Afghanistan when Dr. Shepherd asked me, “Are PA schools or medical schools going anywhere?” I was slightly confused by the question, but then he said, “If there is any job you want to do before you start PA school, you need to do that first.” That statement stayed with me when my enlistment ended in December of 2014.

I was scribing in a Radiation Oncology clinic in December 2019 when a notification appeared: “Offer of Admission, Duke Physician Assistant Program.” Forgoing all decorum, I let out a loud shriek and informed the physician that I had been accepted.

Since I was a little kid, I have wanted to live in a big city. Growing up in a small town and going to college at a rural state institution left me wanting to be somewhere urban and bustling. I wanted to meet people from all over. So you could say that I was not particularly excited about completing the Duke Physician Assistant Program’s required two rural clinical rotations. When I got my clinical year schedule, I was honestly a little disheartened to see that my first and third rotations were going to be “away rotations.”