“Time’s up, pencils down.” I said this phrase after every living-room exam I administered. As a 9- year-old girl, I loved to teach my little brother, cousins and anyone younger than myself really. I would learn a skill, master it, and then teach it to someone else. I knew I wanted to be a teacher. However, after gaining more experience in education and medicine that desire gravitated toward another discipline pediatric medicine, because treating patients is also an opportunity to educate them and their families.
I come from a family of educators. My mother, grandmother, aunt and cousins either had or are still involved in careers in education. My grandmother owned a day care and there was always a book to read or scholastic activity going on. So, as a result this heavily influenced my decision to pursue a career in education. For High School I went to none other than THE WILLIAM H. TURNER TECHNICAL ARTS HIGH SCHOOL. If you’re not from Miami that would impress you and you’d say “Oh…ok, a technical arts high school”. If you’re from Miami and you didn’t go to turner tech you would say “You mean that school behind Central, with the cows and the orange and teal colors.” 🙄 Yeah, that one.
As a technical arts high school we were divided into academies such as Public Service (Teacher Assisting and Criminal Justice), Health, Agriculture (aka Agy) and (AET) the Academy of Entertainment Technology to name a few. I was in the “Public Service” academy where I earned a teacher’s assistant certificate and my high school diploma at graduation. I was then accepted into Florida Memorial University as an education major and I studied and prepared myself for a longstanding career as a teacher for Miami Dade County Public School systems. In the middle of my first semester things changed. I thought about what really inspired me to keep working with students. I enjoyed teaching but there were components of the education system along with the administrative hierarchy that drew me away from fulfilling the role of a teacher. So I thought back to my days as a teachers assistant (TA). As a teacher’s assistant in high school, I worked with many students with learning disabilities in small group settings. I realized how intrigued I was about their conditions and became curious about how I could contribute to their treatment and become active in their overall health and wellness. I reevaluated my chosen field of study and made a decision to pursue a career in medicine. I knew I still wanted to work with children so it had to be pediatric medicine. It was a great career as far as always having job opportunities…every child has to go to school and every child will eventually get sick 🤷🏾.
I began volunteering at Miami Children’s Hospital, despite having some initial anxiety. How could I function with seeing so many children and families with diseases DAILY? I knew if I wanted to do this I had to gain more experience shadowing and see if I could really handle seeing children sick. Seeing so many children with different diseases actually strengthened my commitment to their care and working with their families. As a volunteer, I couldn’t do much to help with their health as far as diagnosing and treatment, but I did improve their quality of life. So, I decided to become a physician.
I changed my major to Biology from education and met with the department head about what I needed to do to get started. She wasn’t too fond of an education major switching to biology.  I assume it was a “let’s see if she will sink or swim” before giving her help type of deal. I finished up my second semester, struggling to keep up with the transition but I made it out.
By the start of my second year, my GPA dropped and I was placed on academic probation with the Honors Council. I lost my full tuition scholarship and I even earned a “C” in Bio I. I asked myself was it even worth it? Girl you can’t even make the grade in the basic level of Biology so how are you going to make it once Bio II, Physics and Organic Chem hit.
I felt like I didn’t belong AT ALL. I would show up to lab in heels. My professor hated it, she would try to say I’m not dressed appropriately however the syllabus said closed toed shoes…..Pumps are closed toed….I rest my case.
Whenever we had to touch something nasty I would ask my lab partners to do it. Eventually my professor caught on and forced me to transfer a doodle bug into a glass case on my own. It took 30 minutes. I cried and screamed the entire time. “And you want to be a doctor?”, she said as she said with a smirk and walked away. I eventually figured out how to study for her multiple choice/ fill in the blank/ short answer exams and started to get A’s. She sat me down one day and told me Biology was the study of life and you must study all life forms before you can focus on one.
Translation in my mind: Get over yourself. Learn the material. Make it past this phase so you can ultimately do what you want to do. From then on I excelled academically and fell in love with Bio.
I always had an interest in random scientific facts and enjoyed watching Nat Geo, Discovery channel, etc. But now I really learned the foundation which furthered my interest and exploration into biology, chemistry, zoology, anatomy, physiology and biochemistry.
I finally went back to the chair and told her I was really interested in becoming a doctor. Feel free to read my *Pseudo-intellectualism* post to see her response. But um yeah, she basically said it was a no go and that I should consider being a nurse or physician assistant. Two of my other professors had the same sentiments (they were messy and had their favorites) and unfortunately, I believed them. I looked into going to Nova Southeastern University for their PA program after graduation. I stopped shadowing and just focused on my classes and extracurriculars. DISCLAIMER: There is nothing wrong with being a nurse or physician assistant. Those are two very rewarding careers in the medical field.
The decision to chose a career should be ones own that they are passionate about pursing and not a reflexive decision based on what someone thinks you should do.
It wasn’t until my last semester of my senior year that I attended a Black Executive Exchange Program (BEEP) event and met Dr. Sherrell Reginald Wilkerson. During BEEP we were introduced to black executives in our chosen fields and they told us about the steps they took to get to their designated careers. There was a part of the program where the student “BEEPer Aides” would introduce themselves and give a brief bio. After I introduced myself by projecting and over enunciating every word, Dr. Wilkerson pulled me to the side. I thought I over did it, but he questioned me about my chosen career path. I told him my reasons and how I would be the best PA ever, specialize in Pediatrics, conduct research at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and later become an administrator and the works…
He told why don’t you look into becoming a doctor. I told him that, that dream was long gone when I started my Sophomore year. I further explained how my professors told me about my low GPA decreasing my chances of being considered and instructing me to pursue nursing or PA school. He then went on to tell me about the different routes to becoming a doctor (i.e. Post-Baccs to enhance GPA, Masters Programs with direct tracks into MD or DO). The last thing he said was
“Try it out, if it doesn’t work out you can always go with your other plan.”
I always say that he was in the right place at the right time. I love a challenge and with telling me to try something out I’m going to do more than “try”. I’m going to find a way to get it done. I switched it up and went back to my original plan and decided to become a physician my LAST semester of my senior year in college. LOL. Sounds crazy I know! Yet, with continued mentorship and guidance from incredible people willing to see my potential, support from family and friends I am so much closer to reaching my goal:
Dr. Nikki Jones, M.D.
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Pretty Nerdy Doc 