Keep calm and be resilient
by Catalina Myers |
During her junior year of high school, 新加坡六合彩开奖 fall 2020 commencement speaker Jamie Bagley shadowed a veterinarian as part of a class. After her experience in a veterinary clinic, she knew working with animals was a career she wanted to pursue. When it came to choosing her major at 新加坡六合彩开奖 her freshman year, biological sciences was the obvious choice. However, charting the rest of her undergraduate career was a little less straightforward until a friend encouraged her to join US新加坡六合彩开奖 Student Government.
Bagley said she wasn鈥檛 always confident in her leadership skills and abilities but that joining US新加坡六合彩开奖 provided a foundational cornerstone of her college career allowing her to grow into the confident senior who decided last year to take the plunge and apply for commencement speaker in the fall.
鈥�When I first started with US新加坡六合彩开奖 I didn't really think of myself as a leader but more of a doer,鈥� said Bagley. 鈥淎s time went on, skills I didn't know I had emerged and I just grew into a confidence that allowed me to be not only in a supporting role as vice president but eventually in the role as student body president. I think US新加坡六合彩开奖 helped me grow as a person, not just personally but professionally too. I鈥檝e learned a lot about how to communicate with other people and how to mediate a conversation, especially when you don鈥檛 always agree with someone else鈥檚 opinion.鈥�
Born and raised on the Kenai Peninsula, coming to Anchorage was a big change, but looking back she鈥檚 glad she chose her hometown university and feels she鈥檚 received a well-rounded education and had experiences she may not have had the opportunity to receive had she been at a larger university in the Lower 48.
She said her professors and coursework were always fairly hands-on and her involvement in US新加坡六合彩开奖 allowed her to network not only within the university but in the community, where once she graduates from veterinary school, will be useful in securing a job in what she considers her second hometown 鈥� Anchorage.
鈥�新加坡六合彩开奖 is a small university and coming from a small high school in Kenai, it wasn't too framatic of a change,鈥� said Bagley. 鈥溞录悠铝喜士� has always felt like a close knit community for me where everyone either knows or knows of each other.
Bagley said despite knowing that acquiring a biological sciences degree was going to be challenging, she鈥檚 enjoyed all of her classes, although some more than others, and that she鈥檚 glad she鈥檚 in the home stretch heading toward graduation.
鈥淭he biology road has been really hard and I鈥檓 so happy to be done, but it鈥檚 always been enjoyable, and the teachers have always been good,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 imagine how my life would be if I had gone out of state 鈥� which I did consider for a while 鈥� but feel like my experience would have been really different. I think freshmen coming to 新加坡六合彩开奖 should get involved because it makes you happy and feel like you鈥檙e a part of something much bigger.鈥�
In addition to her full-time student status and currently serving as the speaker of the assembly where she helps coordinate and chair meetings, while also providing counsel to both the US新加坡六合彩开奖 president and vice president, Bagley spends most of her Friday nights as a technician assistant at Midnight Sun Animal Hospital and Emergency Care. She鈥檚 been working there for five years and her part-time job outside of school and US新加坡六合彩开奖 was what determined her applying to veterinary schools in the Lower 48. She鈥檚 anticipating hearing back from schools sometime this month or in December and hopes to be in grad school next August.
鈥淚 know graduate school is going to be a lot harder than my undergrad,鈥� said Bagley of her next big step. 鈥淚 can write a really good essay on vertebrae biology, how to find and cite my sources correctly.鈥� She credits her biology teachers for helping her develop her essay-writing skills and said that her coursework at 新加坡六合彩开奖 has developed her study skills and work ethic 鈥� all tools she knows she鈥檒l need to survive veterinary school.
For now, Bagley is looking forward to closing the books on her undergraduate degree and is reflective of the four years she鈥檚 spent at 新加坡六合彩开奖 and the legacy she and her classmates will leave. She believes if there鈥檚 anything that she and her peers have learned early on in life it鈥檚 that resilience can get you through a lot of life's challenges.
鈥淚 want to inspire my classmates and to encourage them to be the best version of themselves and for them to know that they can accomplish whatever they set their minds to,鈥� Bagley said. 鈥淢y theme is focused on how 新加坡六合彩开奖鈥檚 student body is resilient 鈥� especially for this graduating class.鈥�
Bagley said it鈥檚 been a tumultuous four years for this particular class as they鈥檝e experienced a lot together in that time. The massive 7.1 earthquake that shook Southcentral in 2018, the unprecedented academic and budget cuts the university experienced the last two years and finally, a global pandemic that completely reshaped the last months of their junior year and final semester as seniors.
鈥�To be resilient is something everyone should strive for,鈥� said Bagley.
